Startling the Fire
by Onwind
Summary: President Snow senses the rebellion Peeta and Katniss will create before it happens, and decides to end it by getting Katniss to fall in love with another tribute. And he has just the tribute to make his plans succeed... FIRST HG STORY- CATO/ KATNISS
1. Chapter 1

**This story will take place before the events of the 74th Hunger Games, so all the tributes have been chosen, but they have not been put in the arena yet.**

**Unless I mention otherwise, this will be entirely in Cato's POV.**

**Will not be a very long story, but the chapters will be long.**

**WARNING- Not going to have a happy ending!**

**If you're still interested, continue on ;)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

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><p>The first thing I noticed when I stepped foot in the room was a foul, and almost <em>sour<em> rose perfume.

It reminded me a lot of the Capitol atmosphere. The musk of a thousand different perfumes mingling amongst each other in some sort of bizarre freak-fest- their polished clothing radiating fumes. Even the smell of burnt hair was in there somewhere. Or that could have been lilac.

Either way, it smelled disgusting. I was sick of it. Back at home, earth and sweat was all there ever was. We never had to put up with all that flowery, fake crap.

But I knew better than to curl my nose at the president. I had learned enough throughout my nine-hour labor days and mountain training that the Capitol was not to be messed with. It was mentioned in hushed whispers between the District 2 trainees- about the Capitol's torture machines and silent executions to anyone who fought against them. That was why I had always kept a leveled head. Not because I was afraid. I just didn't want to be targeted.

Or so I thought. The moment Atala pulled me out of training and claimed President Snow had hiked all the way down there to speak to me personally, I figured my parents found a way to piss him off. The Capitol's president didn't just come_ strolling_ down to the training center to speak to the tributes individually, much less congratulate them.

No. Something had to be wrong.

The trainer shut the door the second I was fully inside. I shook my head. Such cowards.

Even though, truthfully, I couldn't see what the big deal was when I looked at the man before me. I was taller than him, not by much, but enough to see a few balding spots on the top of his head. His white hair was combed back elegantly and his suit only added to his composure, where a single white rose rested on his right breastplate.

He hadn't noticed me come in, it seemed, because he never took his eyes off of his tea. A tray of extra goods and biscuits sat on the corner of a lone desk, and he picked up two sugar cubes from one of the containers. I watched him plop both of them in the cup, and neatly start mixing it all together.

Was he expecting me to say something? Surely the Great and Powerful Snow would have at least acknowledged me by now if that weren't the case. Annoyed, I opened my mouth to speak- just as he looked up.

He didn't do a very good job hiding his bulged eyes. I got that look from a lot of people; it was never blind to me. Except this time, however, the president seemed more impressed than intimidated.

"You looked smaller in the pictures they sent me," he finally spoke, low and composed. "Tea?"

I firmly shook my head.

The president nodded it off. "Very well. I hope I won't keep you from your training for too long, but I'm sure a boy of your strength and might can afford a few minutes," he sat behind the desk. "Please, take a seat. We have some business to discuss."

Well, at least he was somewhat polite. I pulled the closest chair in my direction, and debated whether or not to still believe my parents screwed up. Clearing my throat, I asked. "Am I in trouble?"

Snow's eyebrows loosened in an amused fashion. "No, no, not at all. Your record is completely flawless, and that is precisely why I have called you in. How many years have you trained to participate in the Hunger Games, Cato?"

I counted back the years in my head. "About thirteen, I suppose."

"Ah, so a good fraction of your life, you would say?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good," he nodded approvingly, still stirring his tea. "You see, not many children in any of the districts are as passionate and dedicated to support the Capitol and games as much as District 2- specifically _you_. I admire that in a boy. Or a _man_, should I say. What are you… fifteen, sixteen?"

"Seventeen next month," I asserted.

"A good, solid age."

He must have been rewarding me. He hadn't mentioned anything negative about my life or my parents, so I must have been in the clearing. I wasn't sure if this was a good thing or bad. If he wasn't delivering trouble, he sure as hell was delivering something else.

Snow handed me a biscuit from his tray while he bit into his own. I didn't want it, but I figured it would be best not to get into a useless argument. "I just have a couple more questions," Snow assured, his eyes darkening. "Forgive me for not doing the research myself, but I was hoping you could save the time and enlighten me. Your family… how many are there?"

Why the hell did this matter? "Four others," I answered. "My parents, and a younger brother and sister."

Snow gave me a sick smile. "And your friends?"

I couldn't help but grimace. There had to be some reason he suddenly cared about everyone in my life, and I doubted it was for a good cause. As casually as I could, I bit partly in the biscuit, and gave him a very firm look.

"I have few."

"I see," the president sat back in his desk, straightening his flower vase. "You must have little time for allies when training is more important, especially in _your_ homeland." He plucked a flower from the vase and examined it nonchalantly. "You volunteered at your reaping, did you not?"

"I did volunteer."

"Your own choice?"

It wouldn't hurt to tell the truth for this one. "My father always pushed me to get stronger and faster and more skilled," I explained. "A lot of honor comes with winning in our district. He thought I could be strong enough to win if I ever was reaped. But the choice of actually volunteering was my choice."

"What did your mother think of your decision?" Snow asked, glancing at me when I paused.

"She didn't approve at first," I said. "But she knew deep down I could win and come back."

The president smiled again, and it looked like it hurt by the way his lips were stretched. "Your confidence is refreshing, Cato. Surely a boy as strong and muscular as you had many suitors back at home. Did you leave behind a girl?"

I almost swallowed another part of my biscuit whole at the ridiculousness of that question. Where the hell did that come from? Had he been spying on me the last few years, or what?

My mind briefly wandered to those few girls who seemed to hang around and watch me train… "No," I said quickly. "Not at all."

"Not at all," Snow repeated, nodding slightly. "What about your fellow tribute… the dark haired girl? What are your impressions on her?"

"Clove?" I frowned in disgust. Was he seriously trying to wriggle some sort of sick love story out of me? "I've known her for a couple years, and her father has worked with mine, but that's all it was. I've seen her knife throwing abilities, and they're impressive. We're making an alliance with some others… but no. Nothing like that."

"I understand," Snow seemed satisfied enough. "They told me you and Clove had nothing romantic going on, but I needed to actually hear it coming from you to make sure. You see, it would be rather _difficult_ to carry out my plans if that were the case."

Plans? What plans?

"Speaking of young romance," Snow put the flower back in its vase, and leaned forward to look me directly in the eye. "What are your thoughts on the District 12 tributes? The star-crossed lovers, as the Capitol is saying."

The very mention of them made me want to crumple the remaining part of my biscuit in my fist. Who did those idiots think they were fooling? Only the Capitol people fell for their stupid act, and it sure as hell wasn't fooling me. "They're just trying to get sponsors," I told him in an irritated tone. "But no one believes them."

"On the contrary, many people are quite entranced by their performance," the president looked at me seriously. "Its truly amazing how many people they have recruited to their service. And who knows, their little scheme might just succeed in unbalancing the will of the Hunger Games altogether."

What the hell was he talking about? "I don't understand."

A bleak grin erupted from the president's lips. "You're a smart boy, Cato. Think about the possibilities of the Capitol's reactions to their deaths. Say one of them does manage to fight there way into the last two tributes. The crowd won't want the other to die. They'll be raging at the failure of their reunion."

I felt my teeth tighten at his words. The Capitol was quite an easy crowd to impress. They loved the sweet ruthlessness in the gore and death in the games, the haggard struggle for survival that they never would experience. They possessed such passion for watching it unfold. That was why I knew it from the beginning I could give them a good show.

But they were always searching for something new. Even if it was something as pathetic as _romance_, I suppose it did make sense they would go along with it.

I cleared my throat again and spoke up. "Even if they do react, they'll probably forget about it by the next time the games come around."

Snow's face darkened, and I wondered if it were the right idea to add that thought in the first place. So far, he seemed comfortable with my input. It would really suck to wreck it now. "I only wish it were that easy to assure it," he answered simply, shaking his head. "But I simply cannot risk the damage. I have served Panem for quite some time, and I would hate to see it fall just because two teenage tributes are trying to gain attention. I have always had a sort of knack for sensing things before they occur," he lifted the cup to his mouth, acknowledging me with his finger. "Surely you understand my position now."

I didn't. I didn't understand at all.

"Are you talking about…" I pressed. "A futuristic _rebellion_…or something?"

Snow focused his attention on his tea- clearly more interested in the shape of the sugar cube instead of answering my question. I knew he had heard it, I was sure he did. But his message was clear: _You don't need to know any more._

"Sir," I said suddenly, refusing to take any more silence. "With all due respect- why am I here?"

He perked up at this, and I was glad he did. I needed to get back to training and plan out my battle plans with Clove and Marvel as soon as possible, and we hadn't gotten anywhere yet. Unless all he needed was my family and friend information.

"I'm glad you asked," Snow refilled his cup to the rim, delicately pouring it at a gentle pace. "You are going to be part of something crucial, and it will be entirely between the two of us. You can keep a secret from your mentors, I'm sure?"

I nodded stiffly. It sounded like he wanted to give me some sort of murdering mission. Everything made sense as to why he'd pick me for the job. I was clearly stronger than all of the other tributes, and I had the best chance at winning. He must have known that as much as I did.

"It intertwines with the District 12 tributes," Snow began.

I automatically started to grin. _Yes_. I was going to get to kill those two love idiots, _and_ get rewarded for it!

"Either in the training sessions or the games; I personally would suggest both," the president leaned back in his seat comfortably. "I want you to court District 12's Katniss Everdeen."

The world stopped.

What?

"_Court_ her?"

"Yes," Snow affirmed casually. "You know- charm, attract, flatter… anything that entices her to you. I will leave that creativity entirely in your position."

But…

_WHAT?_

"Me?" I nearly shrieked, all my sanity going directly out the window. "You think I…that I actually… _why_?"

"Think back to the Capitol's reactions, Cato," Snow said in an unbelievably calm tone. "What District 12 has set up. I won't risk any more than I already have. If this love charade is put to an end, then the Capitol will have no reason to go against us. And it_ can_ be put to an end. If you distract her from her precious boy, in love with him truly or not, it will make the people question if she's really as star crossed as she claims. The District 12 problem disintegrates… and all returns to normal."

My mind was spinning with disbelief. How could this happen? How could he completely lead me on to think I was on some badass mission and then drop to something as_ stupid_ as this? Why me? I volunteered for the Hunger Games to _fight_, not to freaking _romance _girls!

"Why can't I just kill them off?" I demanded, struggling to refrain myself from socking the president.

"If they both die, then we will be more targeted than before," Snow explained. "How the cruel president of Panem had no mercy letting two innocent lovers die in the Hunger Games… see, that will not do. I need them to be alive when they break apart. They cannot very well do that if they are slaughtered in cold blood."

"And if they die on the first couple days, anyway?"

"If that were the case, it would be out of my reach," Snow admitted. "But they both received remarkably well scores on their private sessions, and I have predicaments that they will survive past the first day."

"Sir," I said desperately, standing up and plastering both hands on the edge of his desk. "You're asking too much of me. I did _not_ volunteer to be apart of some sick drama the people have made up in their own,_ damn_ minds, and I honestly want no part of it. You have to get another tribute- another guy- I don't care- _anyone._ There is no way I can concentrate on winning _and_ try to win the affections of some girl- my _opponent, _even. I mean- who do you think I _am_?"

"Cato, I'm not asking you to fall in love," Snow looked at me seriously. "Nor do I care if she does with you. I merely want you to _distract _her; there is a difference. You can kill her where she stands once its accomplished, I really do not care past that point. But you are the right tribute for the job. A tall, handsome male who is an excellent fighter- it will be hard for her to keep up her act." He took hold of his cup again. "I know how many ladies you've attracted in your district, Cato. This shouldn't be a problem for you."

"Sir, this could cost me my honor," I pleaded again. "My parents- no- _everyone_ would look down at me for doing this… _me_ and a girl from the poorest district in the whole damned country? Even if I did carry this out, she'd probably turn on me and stab me straight-"

"Then it looks like you've got to gain her trust before the games start," The president smiled and dabbed the corner of his mouth with an elegant napkin. "Come now, Cato. This could work in your favor if you thought about it."

_No_. Under no freaking circumstance could this ever work out.

I remembered a time when my mother's friends would marvel about how much I had grown and how attractive I had become. They looked up to me in disbelieving awe, and the proud twinkle ignited in my father's eye… This had to be the first time my physical looks weren't working in my favor.

Damn it- this was _unbelievable!_ I was better than this crap- how dare he ring me to this level! If my father found out what he was asking of me…

"You can't do this," I bit out, shaking my head.

Something in the president's expression changed the mood completely. I should have remembered the keep my cool- but how could I when he had practically ripped all my glory right from my fingertips?

Snow set his cup down, and the sound echoed throughout the room, encasing me with dread. He stood up, and adjusted the front of his robes. "I have tried reasoning with you, Cato," he sighed. "But I see that the option is quite useless against you. I suppose I will have-"

"Are you saying I have no choice?" I couldn't help but shriek.

He gave me a slightly disapproving look for interrupting. "Now, of course not. You will always have a choice, my boy. Its just the consequences of your decision will be raised higher than I was hoping."

That was the very moment I allowed myself to hang my head in defeat. He never technically said it, but his intentions were as clear as ever. It was either I do the job or my entire family be executed.

"Sir, I just want to win," I tried for the last time. "I want to receive all the glory my district can offer, and I want to fight my way to becoming victor. That is all I asked when I volunteered. Just like any other tribute would."

"And here I thought I found a boy who never doubted himself," Snow responded, and it made me take a step back.

"I never have doubted myself," I said defiantly. "Never."

"Really," the president mused. "You just did. You're claiming you can't win the games and distract Katniss Everdeen in the same amount of time. Ever sense you have walked through that door, you have done nothing but claim you can't do anything."

My face curled in anger at his words, despite the deafening fact he was right. I had been so repulsed at the idea that I hadn't really took the time to think how easy it would be. How hard would it be to attract a poor girl from an unimportant district? Surely the idea of me even_ looking _at her would get her to slip up.

But Marvel and Clove were still in my way.

"If I do this," I gripped out, looking the president hard in the eye. "You won't lay a finger on my family, right? They will come to no harm."

"I swear on it," the president smiled, his eyes flaring with success. "They will have the finest protection and goods from the Capitol, I will make sure of it. Do we have an agreement?"

I still didn't like it, and wished it were someone else, but I managed to give him one short nod.

"Good," Snow said delightfully, dabbing another napkin at his lips. "Then I will let you get back to your training. I truly am grateful for your cooperation, and I know you will not fail me. If you do succeed in winning the Hunger Games, then I bid you farewell until we meet again. Do not disappoint me."

I turned around and headed straight for the door.

"And Cato," the president added.

I stopped where I was, but didn't fully turn.

"I will be watching."

My legs felt like lead, and I knew I'd always have that burden on my shoulders. This was going to have a _very _interesting turnout. I raised my head higher before opening the door and closing it behind me.

The second I was back outside, I realized I still hadn't finished eating the biscuit. Most of it was crumbs now, except one piece that managed to hold together through my throbbing hands. Anger engulfing me whole, I found myself chucking the last of it all the way down to the end of the hallway.

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><p>Marvel was the first to notice I had left. He was crouched in the center of the snare station, his fingers working on a skinny noose. From where I stood, it looked more like a line of tangles than anything.<p>

"Why are you in here?" I asked, squatting next to him. "We're not going to have to hunt."

Marvel looked up, wiping the frustrated frown from his features. "I know- I just wanted to learn how to set some traps. I can make _way_ better ones with stronger material, but _this_…" he struggled to shove the tiny strings through the loop holes. "…is crap."

The trainer wandering around the station and checking the tribute's progress stopped in front of us, and tossed me a set of string. "Make yourself useful, or go to another station," she told me haughtily.

My eyebrows tightened together. She was going to address me a lot differently once I walked out of the Hunger Games as a champion.

There were two other tributes hunched in the corners while they worked. Sighing, I gathered all the strings and started to knot. "Where'd the others go?"

"Glimmer went off with the District 4 tributes, and Clove went to the knife station," Marvel said. "By the way, Glimmer wants your approval on letting District 11 in on the group."

I frowned. "Who's he?"

"That huge black guy who got a ten on his score," Marvel informed, passing me the instruction manual for the nooses. "I don't know, I think it's a pretty wise decision. He looks too dangerous to be on his own."

"If he looks too dangerous, then he shouldn't be in the group at all," I muttered bitterly. Marvel was so damn idiotic at times. We already had enough people in the group; we couldn't trust every damn tribute that looked good enough to join us.

"So no, then?"

I sighed, irritated. "You know what, you guys do whatever. Just stop recruiting people after he's done and over with."

"You got it."

My fingers fumbled with the strings. I didn't really care if I was doing it right, I wasn't going to need this in the games anyway. My fingers were still numb from the fists I had made back in the room with Snow, and there were still tiny crumbs of biscuit in between my fingers. I quickly brushed them off, disgusted at the memory they brought.

There was no way I could ignore it. The task would always be in the back of my mind, sneaking into my thoughts, threatening to execute my family if I didn't act on it soon. Perhaps I would be able to ignore it until the games started, that way I could focus on my game plan like a normal tribute. That was, until, my alliance would ask me what the hell I was doing when I said I was heading out to search for the District 12 girl.

I glanced sideways at the tall, lanky fool next to me. He was such an idiot that it frustrated me, but even he wouldn't compare to how I would look when I randomly headed off into the arena alone. I needed to tell someone, as pathetic as it was. Someone who would hopefully somewhat understand what sort of crisis I was going through. It would never be Marvel, but I figured it would be best to get as much info out of him as possible.

"So," I spoke up. "What are your thoughts on the love tributes?"

Marvel continued with his noose. "What- you mean District 12?"

"Yeah."

"The guy looks like a total loser," Marvel scoffed, shaking his head in the process. "What kind of idiot tells a girl he loves her right before he's going to hunt and kill her? I mean, it's kind of pointless, don't you think?"

"Sure," I murmured.

"Yeah…" he continued. "I don't know, but the girl tribute looked pretty hot in that dress on interview night. With the flames and all that stuff. I'd give her a hard 9, on a scale of one to Glimmer."

I nearly gagged. "I hope you're joking, man."

"Hey, c'mon," Marvel grinned. "We're going to fight to the death in less than 24 hours, why not put a little fun in it while we can. Don't think I haven't seen you and Clove get all-"

"You're nasty as hell," I muttered. "If you say another damn word I swear I will be the one that busts your guts open with my bare hands."

Marvel finished the remaining part of his snare with a cheeky smile. "As long as its not today, you can do whatever the hell you want to me tomorrow."

_Be assured, I will,_ I thought.

"So why'd you ask about them in the first place?"

The question caught me off guard. "What?"

"There had to be some reason the great Cato brought up the District 12 tributes," Marvel said casually, studying the other two tributes who were also having difficulty with their snares. "You planning on knocking them both out on the first day or something?"

Damn, I wish.

"No. Well, maybe. Just curious." _As if_. I wanted nothing to do with them whatsoever, and if Snow hadn't hiked here in the first place, they would remain at the bottom of my troubles like they were supposed to. Snow seriously should've picked Marvel. He was far from being attractive, but at least he had some interest in the girl.

I hadn't noticed him staring at me until he spoke up. "Hold on… I think I know what you're doing," his eyes narrowed in an amused fashion, and I shot him a bewildered glare. "I know exactly what you're doing…_Cato_! You'd actually lower yourself to consider that girl? She's not even a career, and- wow, damn. This is huge-"

"Shut the hell up, or I'll smash you until your skull cracks," I snapped threateningly. "There is no way that is what's going on- you have it all wrong. Hell- you have every damn thing wrong! I don't even know why Clove convinced me to let you in the alliance…"

"Hey, take it down a notch," Marvel held up his palms. "I was just… _oh_, now I _really_ know what's going on. You're trying to get yourself out there, huh? Get the Capitol people all riled up while you try to make her fall for you instead of that blonde loser? Nice…"

I couldn't wipe the stunned look from my face. Snow wasn't the only one who thought such ridiculous ideas?

I stared at him in disbelief. "You really think I should do that?"

"Sure, why not?" Marvel shrugged. "You're going to have a lot of explaining to do with Clove, but all the fans are going to like it. It brings something new to the table. Just as long as you don't fall in love with _her_, I think you could pull it off."

"I don't fall in love," I assured him. "That's the last thing that's on my mind, and always will be. After I win, I'll have enough Capitol girls to keep me company for the next million years."

Marvel's face slightly fell when I mentioned I would win instead, but I knew he knew it was true. "Well," his face brightened. "You should go woo her now, then, before the games start. Because at that point, there's really nothing left but blood and death. And you'll be her target."

"I'm shaking with fear," I muttered sarcastically, standing up and almost towering above him. "Where does she usually train at?"

Marvel's eyebrow flickered. "Last I heard, she was really handy with arrows. Probably in archery, I'd reckon."

I turned around and started heading in search for the station. "I'll be back in a couple minutes."

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><p><strong>Next chapter- Cato and Katniss encounter!<strong>

**And just for the record, I'd like to point out I am completely for Peeta/ Katniss, so I am a fan of canon as well. But because I have a strange fascination for Cato… and this plot bunny kept eating the back of my head…**

**Yeah, anyways. I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on the first chapter and the second will be coming soon!**

**Review ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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><p>My eyes wandered up and down the blue walls of the archery training station, the only sound a small clock ticking in the distance. It was a big room, much larger than the snare station, but the dummies sat at the opposite end in silence. The rack of arrows and delicate bows remained untouched, and made no trace that they had ever been moved. It was empty.<p>

I growled under my breath, removing my hands from the doorframe I had been leaning on. Marvel was an idiot. No one was in here, and it pretty much guaranteed she was in another training room with her stupid lover boy.

Damn you, Snow.

I prepared a nice, long complaint to give Marvel as I headed back to the snares, until I caught a glimpse of blond hair in the fire station window. I automatically pulled back, observing the person with more depth. _I knew it_. He and I were the only two boy tributes with blond hair, and the sickening love grin and eyebrows only confirmed it further. District 12's lover boy, the famous Peeta Mellark.

And sure enough, a girl with dark brown hair sat next to him, her back to me with a 12 crested on her training uniform. A long, unique braid ran down part of her neck and then over her right shoulder, strands of hair falling out from the heart of it. She barely moved as the blonde boy spoke to her, only making movement when her head looked up at him. I sighed heavily. Did I really have to do this? Did I really have to lower myself to this level?

Damn you, Snow. Again.

I peered back into the window, studying District 12's female tribute once more. I wished she were sitting on the other side of him, so I could see her face. I scarcely remembered what she looked like in the interviews- why would I ever pay attention to some random poor tribute, anyway? All I knew was that she had brown hair and she was a lot shorter than me. Not exactly resourceful information.

She probably wasn't good looking in the slightest. Districts who weren't considered careers never had anybody to offer. I shouldn't have been surprised if I wanted to gag and puke all over her ugly face when I forced myself to say something.

But I had no choice. Saying something was the only way to stay clear of Snow's wrath, and it shouldn't have been all that hard. A strong, hunky guy who even dared to start a conversation with her would probably sweep her off her feet in a matter of milliseconds.

I waited a good fifteen minutes for Lover Boy to leave the room without her, but he never left. They remained talking, whispering things I couldn't overhear and honestly didn't want to hear. This was getting ridiculous. I was _not_ wasting anymore time on this damned mission. Looked like I'd have to talk to her while the boy was there too.

I heaved myself off the wall and strolled inside the fire station, examining the place as I went. There were burn pits engraved into the ground for the tributes that made some success, and the smell of smoke haunted the atmosphere. The one other tribute inside the room flashed me a look of terror before going back to his rocks, and both the lovers didn't notice me at all. Casually, I picked up my own rocks and squatted down to one of the pits that was a good distance away- but had a good angle of seeing her face.

The rest of her braid ran further down her chest and stopped a few inches from her waist, while her face carved into that of a female warrior. The color of her eyes were hidden by the way she was looking down into her hands, and I could already tell that if she stood up next to me, I'd tower over her by at least a foot. But despite her short height, her figure was surprisingly slender, her blank expression concealing her true thoughts in a warrior-like mask.

I dropped my head before she would notice me staring. I guess she wasn't all that horrible looking. I had seen better before- _far_ better, but at least she had more to offer than what I would've expected from District 12.

I mentally dumped out all those thoughts, and concentrated on what I was going to say. That look in her eye… it said too much about her that I didn't like. She was quiet and unbreakable. Girls like that always required effort to get the attention of, and I hated the idea of putting effort into something so stupid.

"Peeta Mellark?"

All three of our heads turned towards the doorway. A dark haired trainer motioned him to follow with a bored look. Peeta stood up suspiciously and slowly eased forward, while Katniss frowned with him. "Where are you going?"

"Don't know," Peeta answered. "I'll be back in a few, hopefully."

_Yes. _Now I could talk to her alone.

"I'll head out, too," she stood up as well. "Go find Haymitch or something."

_No! Damn it… _what the hell?

"Yeah, do that. Can you put out my fire for me, though?"

"Um… yeah, sure."

"Thanks."

I watched the last of his sandy hair from the window. Katniss headed over to fetch a pale of water in the corner, and quickly dumped it over the flaming pit, as if she was in a hurry. My mind scrambled for something to say- _anything_ to say before she left-

Too late.

She left the empty pale where it was and started to head out, her braid bouncing with each stride she took. I made movements to stand up and follow- but ceased when I noticed the pit. I comfortably sat back down, smirking arrogantly.

"Hey, District 12. You missed some."

Katniss froze in the doorway, and slowly turned around to look at me. Her eyebrows were knitted together, dark suspicion rising to her features. Now that I could see her face more clearly, the color of her eyes nearly sang to the world. Low grey, ringed with bright silver.

Nice.

They ran me over like bugs, and I casually went back to my rocks with an innocent expression. This was going to be easier than I thought.

Instead of answering, or saying anything for that matter, the defiant District 12 girl raised her chin and headed back to the water pale counter. She refused to meet my gaze as she dumped a good amount of water on the remaining flames. I scraped my rocks together.

"They're taking another round of height and weight records for all the tributes," I said again, loud enough so she could hear. "So your Lover Boy won't be gone long. Means you're next."

She didn't answer. Again. My rocks caught a spark, and I started shaking them into my pit just as I heard the sound of her pale hitting the floor. She was already restarting towards the door.

What the hell? I had said two things to her- why hadn't she at least acknowledged me yet?

I called. "Do you have a name?"

"My name does not concern you."

I drew back a bit. She had quite the powerful voice, even with the low tone she used it with. At least she was talking to me; I couldn't let it end there.

I scooped up my rocks and followed her out the door. "Actually, I think it does concern me," I mused. "I've wanted to know it for quite some time now." Yes, yes, good. If I made it seem like I'd had a thing for her for a while, it would surely benefit my mission later on.

She half turned around, bewildered that I was still following her.

Screw it. All girls loved being chased, no matter how much they denied it.

"I saw your score with the Gamemakers," I continued. "It impressed me."

Her footsteps faltered, and she turned around to look at me. "Why?"

"Well, it's a good idea to pay attention to opponent's scores, so you know what to expect from them in the games," I explained honestly, halting a good three yards away from her. "And like I said, I've had my eye on you for a while. I was curious to see what you would get."

Her eyes only narrowed further. "What is it that your really want from me?"

My eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Are you trying to get me to join your alliance, or…" she suggested, annoyance flickering in her features. "Whatever it is, I rather you just straight up tell me instead of trying to get me to fall at your feet. I don't do that kind of thing. Not for anyone."

_Damn._ That was both arousing and frustrating.

"But you would do it for Lover Boy, huh?" I gave her a humorless grin, watching as her face released its' proud look. "At least on T.V you would, in front of the Capitol crowd. But everyone inside these walls know your little scheme, and nobody wants to reward you for it. You don't love him and you're going to get slaughtered out in the arena for it."

Her face was calm, but I could tell it was raging from the inside. "Is this why you've been harassing me? To warn me that I don't stand a chance?"

"I think you could stand a chance if you had the right allies."

Katniss looked baffled, and I slightly baffled myself. I didn't want this girl in the career alliance, and I knew for sure the others wouldn't either. Even if it would make this damned task a lot easier if we were on friendly terms, it would be too humiliating.

Katniss finally shook her head. "Well, whatever it is you're asking, I'm not interested," she turned on her heel and started walking off.

My hands curled into fists on their own accord, while my eyes stared at her leaving figure in disbelief.

Rebuffed. Ignored._ Rejected_.

Who did this girl think she was?

Moments ago, I had been mentally banging my head for even suggesting her a place in the career alliance. But to actually refuse… to rebuff it like it was some sort of joke…

My alliance was no damned joke. Only the best warriors were allowed in, the ones that could help me kill off the weak. We were the best of the games, the ones with the most sponsors and the most expectations. She should have been honored that I even considered having her join, she should have been down on her _knees_…

I forced myself to turn a different direction, kicking everything out my way as I headed up the stairs to District 2's compartment. Marvel was the last person I needed to spill everything out to. I didn't need his ridicules and smirks at how that damned District 12 girl had shoved it all back in my face.

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><p>Clove was the only one in the entire compartment. She was perched on the coach, sharpening one of her favorite knives while a program of the tribute's scores played on the T.V. She didn't pay it the least bit of attention; my violent chugging of a water bottle appeared way more interesting to her. I screwed the cap back on and turned to face her.<p>

"What?" I asked, irritated.

She didn't answer, but I saw a cold smirk forming at her lips.

"Spit it out," I demanded, taking up my water bottle again. "We're going in the games in less than 24 hours, so if you bring it up then, I'm telling you now I won't pay it the least bit of attention."

She shrugged, running a finger along the blade. "It hardly matters," she murmured, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. "You're always acting all pissed off when you come back from training."

"No I don't," I snapped, offended. "If it weren't for all of you annoying the freaking hell out of me-"

"Save it," she muttered. "I was just curious, even though its quite clear your little get together with Snow didn't go too well."

I shot her a twisted glare. "How did you find out about that?"

"It wasn't meant to be a private announcement."

I sighed. This meant everybody, including my mentors would want to know what Snow had said. More lying and more secrets.

"Your parents do something?" she asked nonchalantly.

My eyes wandered back to Clove's. Perhaps telling her was a good idea. There was nobody else I could really trust to keep a closed mouth about it, and Snow could _not_ be informed that I told anyone. Clove could also aid me when I got into the arena, and help cover me. "Nothing like that," I started. "But he did threaten their lives. I have to get in between the District 12 tributes."

Clove frowned. "What?"

"Break them up," I explained. "Or at least get the District 12 girl to consider me instead of her lover."

"Ew," her nose curled. "Why?"

"I don't know," I said, honestly. "A bunch of crap, I'd say."

She stared at me for the longest time, her eyes scrunching up in disgust. "Well… are you going to do it, then?"

"What choice do I have?"

She shook her head. Part of me felt infuriated that she wasn't as pissed off about this as I was. "That's pretty nasty," she shook her head again. "You and _that_ girl? No… just, no. Why did he pick you instead of some other bimbo?"

"Cause I have the best chance at succeeding," I sighed. "Which makes sense, I guess, because every other guy in here is ugly as hell. But still… he should have picked Marvel. He actually has a thing for her."

"Marvel," she scoffed with a bit of amusement. "You should let me kill him in the arena."

"No chance," I bit back. "_I _am killing him."

"Fine," she mumbled. "So what are you going to do about it, then? If they don't die on their own, you're going to have to step in. President Snow will pummel your family dead if you don't cooperate."

"Yes, Clove, _I know_," I glared at her. "Maybe I should get Marvel and Glimmer to secretly go after them." My hand ran through my hair. "I don't know what to do anymore. I just want to stop worrying about it, and get back to what I'm supposed to be doing."

"Secretly go after them?" her eyebrows knitted together. "Are you out of your mind? Snow has eyes all around the arena. He'll pick up on our alliance with them the second we step foot inside, and he'll know you're behind it. Why don't you just do what he says? Tell her you want to see her naked, and it'll be done with."

My own eyes darkened at the dark haired tribute before me. "I already tried talking to her, and it didn't do crap. I am_ not_ talking to her again."

She grew a grim smile, and went back to her knife sharpening. "So typical Cato. Gives up on things he knows he'll never get. What exactly did you say to her, anyway?"

I ignored her first remark, but kept the bitterness in my voice. "Pretty much the usual crap. I said her score impressed me and almost offered her a place in the alliance."

Clove looked up at me. "You didn't though, right?"

"I didn't."

"Good. What did she say back?"

"Said she wasn't interested," I muttered. _That damned girl_…

"Hm," Clove nodded. "Well, from the sounds of it, she's a tough nut to crack. You're going to need all the help you can get."

I glared down at her calm face. She had done nothing to help me, and I was losing my patience. "You're a girl," I said. "Help me out here. What the hell do I have to do to get this girl's attention?"

Her small hands placed the knife back on the coffee table, and she positioned herself more comfortably on the couch. "What are you going to offer me in return?"

My insides flared. "I really hope you're joking."

"No joke," she shook her head. "I want something back."

I made a sound of disapproval, loud enough for her to hear. Should've known Clove would try to pull something like this. I specifically made sure to avoid the 'what do you want' question, and stick to my range of options. "I won't try to kill you unless we're the final two tributes."

She snickered. "I wouldn't believe that for a second. Try again."

Damn! "Fine," I seethed. "You can kill Marvel."

She yawned, turning up the T.V sound. "I'm losing interest."

"Damn it, what do you want then?" I was out of options.

We both whipped our heads around to the T.V when we heard the announcer say something about the girl on fire. The screen of statistics melted into her interview, and the camera focused entirely on her instead of including that ridiculous Caesar Flickerman. Her dress was made up of thousands of red and orange jewels, the jeweled flames engulfing her. I averted my eyes from the T.V the second more thoughts crossed my mind. No. I would not allow myself to think she was attractive. Not in the slightest.

Clove turned to look at me. "I want the girl on fire."

"What?"

"When we're in the arena," she clarified. "I want to be the one who kills her."

My eyebrows knitted as I headed to the opposite couch. "Why? What does it matter?"

"Because her giggling and twirling is making me want to puke," Clove said venomously as she looked at the screen. "I want to be the one to kill her, not you. And I want Marvel, too."

"No way," I backfired. "No chance."

"Then good luck sorting out your romancing problems."

"Are you seriously doing this right now?" I groaned. "What does it freaking matter if I'm the one who murders her? I should be the one- I'm the one hauling ass trying to get her bloody attention! But you know what- fine. _Fine_. I don't five a crap. Kill them both. As long as you make it long and torturous. That girl needs to know how dumb she was for messing with a career before she dies."

"Don't worry," Clove grinned. "The screams are always the best."

At least we agreed on one thing.

"Alright, now tell me what to do."

Clove grabbed the remote and switched off the T.V, moving her position on the couch to look at me square on. "First off, I need to know everything you've said to her."

I thought back. "I asked for her name at some point."

Clove's face fell. "Hm. No wonder she rebuffed you. You're coming on too soft."

"Too _soft_?"

"Yes. There is such thing," she informed. "Katniss Everdeen is not one of those bimbo idiots that sit there sighing romantically while you pick up weights. She can't be swayed by a guy who is softer than her. That's probably one of the reasons why she doesn't give a crap about her lover boy, as obsessed as he is. You need to come on strong. _Really_ strong."

"So…?"

Clove's eyes glistened and she leaned forward. "Make her want you. Push her against some walls, and make your messages burn on the insides of her mind. Scare her. The task is to distract her, right? Then do that. Cut all the cheesy crap and go straight in for the kill. It would work on me, for sure, but don't get any ideas."

"Clove dearest," it was my turn to smile. "You can't hide your obsessed feelings for me. I've known about them since the day at the reaping."

"Don't flatter yourself. You're not my type."

"Good," I said. "Because you're too ugly for me."

"I look forward to killing you."

"Right back at you."

The doors of the District 2 departments opened and our mentors strolled in, chatting about something unimportant. Clove went back to her knife sharpening, and I turned the T.V back on to review the tributes scores. There was only a couple that I needed to worry about, and I paid extra close attention to anything remarked about Katniss Everdeen.

Clove's words were golden to my head right now. Intimidating people was one of my specialties, and it was kind of pathetic that I hadn't thought of it before.

I made plans to catch Katniss before the games started- one last encounter to scourge her mind with thoughts of me. She'd think of me. Oh yes, she would. Every time she ran with her bouncing braid, or scurried with her lover, I would always be there. Watching. Waiting.

This mission of Snow's was going to be a very fun game indeed.

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><p><strong>Nothing much to say here really… other than the HUNGER GAMES MOVIE IS COMING OUT ON FRIDAY ANDI'MSOEXCITED!<strong>

**Oh, and review ^^ Please…**


	3. Chapter 3

**So.. I saw the Hunger Games movie about 3 times- and I LOVED IT! Especially all those Alexander Ludwig scenes ^^ He was a good actor. But the movie also made me realize I had to bump up Cato's psyche a bit, so expect that more in this chapter and the following ones ^^ Plus, I screwed up the training rooms and schedule between training sessions and interviews... -_- so I apologize for that, but I'm probably not going to end up changing it..**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

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><p>The morning of the Hunger Games went generally well for Clove and I. Both of us, it seemed, slept well and couldn't wait to go cut off some limbs and heads. This was my time to show everyone back at home how much the training had paid off, and how easy it would be to be crowned victor. I could only imagine how exhilarating it would be to pick off all the tributes that had exceedingly low scores on their lessons- to watch them bleed and drown in their own weakness.<p>

_All but one_, I reminded myself. There was still the case with that damned girl from District 12, the girl who somehow scored an eleven on her training score. It was like a slap in the face from the Capitol. How they dared to give such a score to the poorest district in the nation- a score that over road the strongest competitor who trained for the games his whole life- was beyond me. That very reminder made my blood boil with hatred, and my insides seethe with rage. Those damned Capitol freaks…

But after what Snow forced upon me, that reminder become no more than a stain on my training suit. There would be no long, murderous thoughts that devised through my brains, no range of images on how I would break her. No. I had to _seduce _her.

But then again, there weren't any rules that said I couldn't break and seduce her at the same time.

Clove went down to the training area for the first half of breakfast. It was supposed to be closed down for all tributes on the day of the Hunger Games, but they didn't bother insuring it. I'd have bet that most of the tributes did go down there at some point over the course of the night, the desperate cowards who couldn't sleep. But Clove wasn't scared. If anything, she went down there to intimidate her opponents more with her knife skills.

Both my mentors decided to lecture me about finding water and supplies while they heartily dug into the fruits and meat with purple dipping sauce. I completely tuned them out, focusing on the strange taste of the meat and what my game plan was for catching Katniss before the games started. I had exactly three hours until we had to head out. The Capitol would likely forbid the tributes from facing each other until we were out in the arena, so that part kind of screwed me over. She'd probably be locked in her District 12 compartment, getting advice from her mentor like everybody else.

"Cato, are you even listening?"

I looked back up at the female mentor. She was such an annoyance, it was always a wonder how the hell she managed to become a victor. I nodded a few times in answer, just to keep her from getting on my case. She was more Clove's mentor than mine. "So you know how to find water if you need it?" she pressed, raising the oddly shaped cup to her lips. "And what leaves to consume if you run out of food?"

I growled in irritation. The careers never ran out of supplies, we always seized control of the Cornucopia before anyone else did. It had been that way for years. "Yeah, yeah, I got it," I muttered. "When's Clove supposed to come back?"

The female mentor's eyes narrowed at my aloofness. But seriously, shouldn't she have been the one relieved she didn't have to deal with one of those sniveling idiots who fainted at the sight of blood? The other mentor, the guy, had the right idea. He took one look at Clove and I during our training lessons, and barely gave us any advice since. He knew we had it under control, and we were going to do fine in the arena.

And on cue, Clove returned. Her pockets were emptied of her favorite knives she used in the training stations, while her dark eyes lowered with boredom. She obviously didn't have anything interesting happen to her in the stations.

"Did they let you in?" one of the mentors asked.

She nodded. "They did."

"Were there other tributes in there too?"

"A few. Probably three or four. But none of them came into the knife station."

And that was all there was. The mentors went back to conversations about the capitol while Clove kept flashing me glances like she needed to talk to me about something. When the mentors seemed deeply engaged, she opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it when their attentions went back to us. Only when they stood up and began heading back to their rooms did she whisper. "Your girl was down there."

My eyebrows rose. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Clove gave me a devious smile. "There really weren't any others down there besides me. But when I got into the elevator to come back up, I saw her sneak in while the door closed."

Perhaps my plan hadn't entirely fallen apart yet. "Is she still down there?"

"I don't know. But I'd go and see. As far as I could tell, Lover Boy wasn't with her, so you'd be able to get to her alone," her smile continued. "Get her mind rolling right before the games start."

Automatically, I stuffed my napkin back on the table and started for the door. If what she said was true, I needed every second before Katniss headed back to her compartment. Clove said she'd cover for me if the female mentor asked where I went, as well as the guy if he even cared. I hopped into the elevator and pressed the button to the training center. How amazingly_ sweet_ it would be for her to be there…

I hurried out of the elevator the second the doors swung open. As far as I could see, most of the rooms were darkened and asleep, untouched weapons and dummies. My footsteps echoed throughout the darkened hallway, and doubt scratched into my nerves. First Marvel, now Clove decided to give me false information. What the hell?

Wait…

Although most of the rooms were darkened, one near the end of the hallway wasn't. The familiar brightness of a Capitol light stung my eyes with its intensity, and all my hateful thoughts vanished. _Someone_ was inside there.

My footsteps narrowed down to a quiet crawl as they neared the doorway. I peered inside the window, taking in the liveliness that one tribute had brought into the room. The light radiated off the dummies' curves and kindled the gleam in the arrows. This was the archery station. And sure enough, the girl on fire stood in the corner, picking out an arrow to use with her bow.

I couldn't hide the triumphant grin forming my lips any longer. It was just too perfect… too easy, almost. This was one of the first times I'd seen her not in her training suit, besides her interview dress and parade costume. She was dressed in a simple green and blue outfit; the rich material of it being only the Capitol's, and her hair was down. Dark brown locks of unruly hair travelled down her waist, and I could see the tired look in her eyes, the lack of sleep. It definitely looked like she wasn't expecting to come down here and find anyone.

_Too bad for her_, I thought.

But before I strolled in, I decided to hold my place and watch her shoot. Perhaps Marvel was right in his assessment she was talented in archery, or somewhat talented, given she was from the weakest nation in Panem. They never had many talented ones there. But somehow she had gotten away with an eleven, so she had to have been decent at _something_.

Katniss headed back to the very last line and hooked the arrow in position. The back of her hand rubbed her tired eyes before she gained focus, and aimed at the target all the way on the other side of the room. Anticipation leapt threw my being, and I watched her narrow her eyes and find the exact location she was going to shoot. Then, with the release of two fingers, the arrow flew, and ended up in the heart of the bull's eye.

I couldn't erase the utter shock written all over my face. _Holy crap_…

She had to have been fifty yards away from her target and she nailed it perfectly. My mouth closed back up, and I took in her figure curiously. Definitely not bad for District 12…

I watched her sigh with relief at her success, and turn to fetch another arrow.

"You practice that, often?"

She nearly dropped the bow at the sound of my voice, and she spun around in bewilderment. Her fingers lost control of the bow, and it clattered the floor with a loud sound. "What the _hell_ are you doing here?" she screeched in a quiet tone.

I leaned against the doorframe more comfortably, my head cocking slightly to the left. "Just examining my prey, is all."

Her eyes froze in confusion, but I could see the uncomfortable exterior settle around them. "What?"

"The games begin today," I slouched off the frame and jaunted towards her. "There's no guarantee you'll be alive past tomorrow. No guarantee that it will be some _random_ tribute who gets the opportunity to tear you apart." I paused to watch her expression unfold into more bewilderment. "What do you think about that, Katniss? Is that what led you down here? Have you ever considered what would happen if it was _me_ who got my hands on you?"

She slowly bent down to retrieve her bow, her flustered gaze never leaving my own. I could see she couldn't comprehend what had led me to this sudden attack, and she was clearly unprepared to fight back. "I… will survive past the first day," she suddenly spoke, her chin raising an inch. "And no, I have never considered it. Because that will never happen."

I smiled now, and it came naturally. "Somehow it doesn't make sense to me that a girl who got an eleven on her training score would be so stupid and oblivious as to not look at all her options."

"My _options _are really none of your business," she spoke coldly, ringing with defiance. "And you must really underestimate me if you've seen my score and the hit I made just a few seconds ago."

"I did see it," I stopped a few yards away, my arms crossed as I mused down at her. "And I've seen others do the same. You really aren't as powerful as they say you are, Katniss. You would be completely _vulnerable_…" I took a step forward. "Against someone like me."

"Is this another warning?" she demanded. "Another way to get me to join your little alliance? Because I already told you, I don't want in. And I feel bad for you if you can't accept that."

"I never was trying to get you to join, sweetheart."

She flinched at the nickname. _Yes…_

"You aren't Career material," I continued, raking my eyes over her. "And I much rather have the joy in _killing_ you than befriending you. Therefore,_ I_ apologize if I wounded _your_ feelings in any way, because I know how much you secretly wanted to join." Satisfaction burned through me as her expression melted into fiery humiliation.

"Then why do you keep bothering me?" her words were icy. "What did you come here for?"

Now was the time to break her, to engrave myself in the lids of her eyes. My own eyes lingered over her own, taking in the sight of the most fiery, the most defiant, girl on fire. Her neck was angled up so she could face me properly, her knuckles tightening on her bow. What a true match she was for me, a match I had been itching to have since I volunteered. "Came here for you," I said simply, observing her face once again be overcome with uncomfortable thoughts.

"You want to challenge me," Katniss decided, watching me for confirmation. "Because you don't understand how I got the score I did."

"I'm not talking about the scores."

"Then… you're jealous of my stylists?"

_Oh, please._ "I don't care about stylists."

"Then…"

Her eyes widened slightly.

"Look, I don't have time for games _or_ your sick fantasies," she said haughtily, turning away to place the bow back on its' rack. My hand raked through my hair in amusement, loving where there was going. She reeked of innocence, and it was certainly entertaining how easily she gave into my words.

"I didn't know you could come to such conclusions, Katniss," my voice lowered to a purr. Once she turned back around from the bow rack, I strode forward and backed her right up against it, my arms ready to grab her if she caught on fast enough and tried to squeeze away. But she didn't. She had momentarily lost her control and only backed up further against the rack- while her hand planted on my chest to put as much distance between us as possible. The sharp ends of the bows jabbed her lower back, but she seemed to rather take the pain than get any closer.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she shrieked, her fear overpowering the lethal determination she had tried so hard to keep up. Her warm hand was still pressed against my chest, but it was clearly more to keep me away than anything.

I smiled darkly, and her skin prickled with terror. "You were the one who suggested it, Katniss, I don't see what's making you so uncomfortable."

One of her knees pressed against my leg, and I realized she was trying to partly sit on the top of the rack and avoid complete contact. Her hand retracted from me, and she leant back as far as she could, disgust written all over her. Just wait, I told myself. Once I showed her how strong I was, she'd be begging for my attention.

"Keep the hell away from me," she snarled, shakily.

"What, you prefer Lover Boy to me?"

"I prefer _anyone_ to you," she ripped her gaze from my own, testing the rack for signs that it could backwards. Too bad I already knew it was nailed to the training floor. "I'm serious. Let me go."

She was so fragile, it was laughable at what she was demanding of me. "Come now, sweetheart. I know I'm not as repulsive to you as you claim to be." My hands wrapped around her wrists and held them in front of her, while my lips lowered to her ear. "What makes Lover Boy so special, Katniss? Is it his sappy words or is it his innocence? Is he really what you're interested in?"

She struggled under my grip, shivering under the contact on the shell of her ear. "Cato, this isn't funny anymore! I'm _serious_-"

My mind flared at my name on her lips.

"Can it be true?" my voice raised in mock surprise. "Have I finally scared the girl on fire?" It lowered back to normal, deviously. "Yeah, keep screaming, sweetheart. You _are_ the most screwed tribute in the arena, and I will be the one who kills you. I will be the one who runs a dagger up your skin, lines of blood that spell out my name…"

"You're delusional," she said shakily, her head shaking frantically as she tried once more to free herself.

"And only if I am in a hurry to be crowned victor will I finally kill you out of mercy," I finished, the images almost perfect. "That is if you don't get killed by another idiot tribute in that course of time-"

"Katniss."

Both our heads whipped around to see a middle aged man in the doorway, his hand holding the frame for support. His dark hair fell over his intense eyes, and I immediately recognized him as District 12's mentor, the one and only Haymitch Abernathy. I heard Katniss breath in relief at her rescue, and I reluctantly released her wrists, letting her wriggle out from between me and the bow rack. But before she got more than a few feet away, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"I wouldn't forget what I said," I whispered darkly. "Take all the notes you can before the games begin, because the others and I_ will_ be hunting you. Don't doubt it for a second."

Defiance rung throughout her silver bullets for eyes, and she ripped her wrist out of my grip. "And don't expect me to sit around and cry myself to sleep. You might just get an arrow in your back."

And then she left the room, Haymitch giving me a firm glare as he followed her heels. No doubt he would ask what I had done to her and everything I said, but I smirked to myself never the less. That only meant she'd have to talk about me more, no matter how much she denied she did. That little get together went better than I hoped, and I knew she'd be reminded of me for the next three hours.

I headed back down the hallway and left the light on, not bothering to find out how to turn it off. The Peacekeepers would take care of it. And President Snow would be so proud of my establishment of dominance. Perhaps after this morning, that was all I had to do to satisfy his game.

I got into the elevator and pressed the button back to my compartment, a low smirk forming upon my lips as the doors of the elevator closed.

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><p><strong>Damn… Cato is evil O.O Don't worry, this story will get exciting, and it will be very interesting to see how Cato's psyche works out..<strong>

**Please review guys ^^ They make me update faster!**

**Next chapter- THE ACTUAL GAMES!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Just a heads up: Only 9 tributes die in the bloodbath in this story…**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

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><p>"All the good weapons will be deep inside the Cornucopia," Brutus instructed as we descended down the elevator. "Most of the tributes will be pulled in and go for the supplies, but if you can get there faster and get to a weapon, you'll be able to kill many of them early. The more you kill- the more you won't have to deal with in the woods."<p>

I nodded once at his words, my gaze straightened forward. Brutus wasn't one of my mentors, but he tagged along anyway for the refreshments. His advice was a lot more realistic to me than my actual mentors, so I forced myself to listen.

Brutus jerked his tie in a better position as the elevator hummed in a lower tone, indicating we were almost to the bottom. "How many are there in your alliance, by the way?"

"Five, not including myself."

He snorted. "Are they trustworthy?"

I half smiled. "No."

"Do they trust you?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Smart kids," he slapped me hard on the back, barking out a laugh. "You're going to do fine, kid. Slit some throats for me, it's been too long."

I gave him my own slap on the back before heading out of the elevator door, where the sunlight struck me for the first time in weeks. A large hovercraft sat parked in the center of the lot, with a ramp for the tributes to climb aboard. No more mentors were allowed past that point. It was just the tributes and their thoughts until the games started. I wouldn't be surprised if half of them started crying while the hovercraft took off._ Pathetic cowards._

I chose a random seat inside, and a Peacekeeper had to strap me in. It wasn't because the tributes couldn't strap themselves- it was more to make sure they weren't going anywhere if they had a mental breakdown and fled the hovercraft.

More tributes piled in, taking their sweet time saying goodbye to their mentors. Marvel and Glimmer squeezed into the seats in front of me and flashed anticipated grins. I returned them. It was about time the games started.

Speaking of which, where was my little Katniss? My eyes scanned over each and every face, yet none of them belonged to her. Perhaps she had not gotten aboard, yet.

After about twenty minutes of securing the rest of the kids, both tributes from District 12 walked in, unfortunately having to be separated since there were no more open seats that came in pairs. Lover Boy took the seat at the opposite end, while Katniss took the one next to Clove, who wasn't all the far from me. Her shirt was darker than most of the other tributes, and a new, elegantly warrior-like braid ran down her shoulder. The girl on fire was ready for battle.

I smirked knowingly, sweeping my eyes over her. By that vacant and partly anxious look in her eye, she still hadn't forgotten about that morning, and everything I said to her.

The hovercraft roared to life and we were lifted into the air. I shifted more comfortably in my seat, while the rest of the tributes' seemed to tense at the movement. The ones who were leaning back looked exasperated with their eyes closed, murmuring prayers that would never be fulfilled. I grinned at the sight. All this cowardice was making me even more turned on for the games.

About halfway through the ride, a Capitol woman dressed in leather went up and down the row, injecting our bloodstreams with trackers. The needle went far up into my arm, and the pain ceased almost immediately after it was taken out. From the corner of my eye, I heard Katniss shakily demand what they were doing when the woman asked for her arm. _Poor girl_. So defiant yet so weak and vulnerable.

Marvel noticed my smirk, and his head leaned over Glimmer to see who I was looking at. He gave me an equally devilish look, and flashed his eyebrows.

The hovercraft landed with a low roar, and all the windows went dark. Half of the tributes jerked in fear, and a few even whimpered under their breaths. Katniss gulped, but kept her eyes in the air, refusing to show any fear.

It was about time we arrived.

Peacekeepers piled in the hovercraft and everyone's seatbelts unleashed at the same time. I stretched my arms slowly, letting the other tributes slip by me while I waited for Katniss. Why not try to talk to her one last time before we battled to the death? When she unknowingly started to pass me, I stuck my hands deep in my pockets and walked with her. "Do I sense a bit of fear, Katniss?"

She quickly looked up at me, alarmed. "Stay the hell away from me," she warned in a low tone, almost running into another tribute while she said so. I smiled, showing my teeth.

"Is that what your mentor told you to do?"

"I'm not even going to bother talking to you," she rebuffed, trying to push past two other tributes who were taking their sweet time.

"Best of luck, Katniss," I said smoothly. "You're going to need it when I get my hands-"

"Hey, enough!" A peacekeeper separated us, dragging a defiant Katniss with him. "You do _not_ need to be throwing insults! Save that for the Games."

I merely scoffed at the guard. _Don't worry, poor idiot. I will._

Clove and I were taken to our specific bases, and I was walked down into the under compartment of the Hunger Games. A series of two Peacekeepers lead me down to the base I'd be kept in until the games started. A large, red jacket sat waiting on a hanger, and I automatically slipped it on, feeling the comfortable material between my fingers. I knew this material. It was a standard jacket for a Hunger Games tribute, and it helped reflect the cold during night hours. No doubt the Capitol would make sure the nights weren't perfect and warm for us. _Whatever_, I thought. The Career Alliance wouldn't be sleeping at night anyway.

"Thirty seconds," a speaker barked.

Then, I saw it. A large, glass pod in the corner of the room, waiting for a tribute to get inside. I'd seen these before on all the past games on T.V, when the tributes were being lifted from the inside. I'd always wanted to go on one.

"Fifteen seconds."

With a careful breath, I headed inside the pod and the door closed. It took a couple seconds for the pod to activate, and the weight under me suddenly brightened and pushed me up. I saw the last of my reflection against the glass before I was blinded by a great brightness.

My vision cleared and fresh air greeted me at the sight. Large, great trees towered around the arena, new green and pure earth. Grass lay before me, and my eyes automatically found the gold Cornucopia, supplies gleaming at the mouth. Oh,_ yes_. Swords, axes, knives. It was all mine. My merchandise.

The rest of the tubes transported the tributes, and a loud speaker started counting down from sixty seconds. I waited, watching for someone to foolishly step off of the plate and get blown to pieces, but nobody did. They all seemed to lock eyes with their favorite weapons, and a few tensed to spring off once we were released. Anger coursed through my body at the flash of hope in their eyes. They were not touching _my _weapons.

_20… 19… 18…_

I prepared myself- leaning forward.

_15… 14… 13…_

Oh, yes. That sword right there…

_10… 9… 8…_

My eyes focused directly on the stack of weapons closest to me. Catch hold of those, and I was all set. Everyone around me would be dead.

_5…. 4…. 3…_

A low smile.

_2…_

_1…_

I leapt off of the podium.

Everyone around had just begun to take off when I was already halfway to my destination. My heart raced and my arms pumped with raw intensity. I automatically clutched the sword handle just as the other tributes were passing me.

_Slash!_

Two tributes behind me fell to the ground instantly, bits of blood staining my cheek. The first one, the girl, had been cut deep in the center of her throat, so she was a goner. The boy had covered his face just in time my blade had come. He started to scoot back, clutching his arm that was soaked with red. "No, wait, _please_-" he pleaded, tears running down his face.

My blade came around again and he toppled to the ground, never to get back up again.

I automatically moved on to my next victim while I searched for more weapons. Glimmer was straddling one tribute while she pounded her head with some sort of sharp rock, and Marvel seemed to already kick out a few tributes of his own. Clove had grabbed a packet of daggers and was now throwing them everywhere- tributes falling as easily as the dummies.

I instinctively started moving towards the Cornucopia, Brutus's words of the finest weapons flashing through my memory. There was already a crowd of tributes around it, scrambling to get whatever they could, but Marvel seemed to be guarding it pretty well. The large black guy- District 11, no doubt, managed to get by easily with a backpack and a large, curved blade. I growled to myself. That was a _nice_ sword. But it would be pointless to chase after him now.

Any surviving tribute had escaped to the forest at this point. The rest of them were sprawled across the field, drowning in their own blood. Clove went around each dead body and finished off any that were still alive or severely wounded. Glimmer wiped all the blood off her weapon on the grass, smirking when I came into view. "It's actually a pretty useful weapon. Think I'll keep it in my back pocket- if I happen to need it."

I scoffed as I passed her. "Drop the souvenirs. We haven't even seen what's inside the Cornucopia."

"There's a lot," Marvel called out to us, peering into the mouth with a dark haired girl, most likely the tribute from District 4. "I call the three spears in the corners!"

I caught the gleam before I even stepped inside. All along the back, weapons of every size and shape were lined neatly, sharpened to the blade. A row of knives sat underneath, along with some axes and the spears Marvel was talking about. There was even a saw sitting perfectly next to the display of warrior swords. None of the tributes were able to reach any of these beauties, except for the one empty shelf case, the curved sword plucked from District 11.

Once Clove had assured us all the tributes were dead, we started supplying weapons into our shoes, clothing, and belts. I chose two of the largest swords in the rack and fastened them onto my belt, while adding daggers in my pockets as extra leverage. We listened and counted the cannons as we ate, waiting for nightfall to come.

"This is disgusting," I muttered bitterly, staring at the strange piece of fruit in one of my backpacks.

Marvel laughed, leaning against the side of the Cornucopia with ease. He was damn lucky. He found a backpack with _good_ meat in it. "Not my fault. You should've gotten the black bag."

"Or this one," Glimmer pitched in, seductively biting into something I didn't want to know. I couldn't wait until the games came just between us. Her pretty little face wasn't going to be so pretty when I was done with her.

The girl from District 4 remained quiet until nightfall. One of us had probably killed her partner on accident, or someone else did. Either way, she should've been thankful she survived, and that we were including her anyway. Only when something snapped outside the Cornucopia did her head perk up from her food. "Hey… did you guys hear that?"

We all looked at her, amusement draining from our faces.

"What?" I asked.

"Out there," she pressed, pointing to a shadow just outside the mouth. Marvel flashed me a wicked smile, and he and I started picking up our new weapons, slowly inching towards the doorway. Stupid tribute. They had a better chance at living if they didn't come knocking at our door. But instead, the tribute revealed himself before we got to him, scratches from bushes planted all over his face.

"Wait, here me out," Peeta held up his own knife, looking as serious as ever.

Automatically, the five of us burst out in laughter. Was Lover Boy serious?

Peeta scowled at our reaction. "Hey, c'mon. Knock it off. You want the entire arena to know you're here? Lounging on your butts?"

"They already know we're here, that's why none of them had come," Clove called from the Cornucopia.

Peeta paused, but I managed to ask through my laughter. "What are you doing here, Lover Boy?"

The little blond boy lowered his knife, looking me square in the eye. "Thought you guys could use the extra assistance."

More laughter. God, this was great!

"Hey, whatever," Peeta held up his palms, and started to walk away. "Its not like I've spent the last few hours hiding in bushes, watching all the tributes and which way they've gone to set up camp. No, not at all. You guys don't need that, do you? You guys can do it all by yourselves. Because I'm sure you just _know_ where to start looking for them tonight."

The girls ceased their laughter with interested looks, but Marvel and I didn't buy it for a second. Marvel continued laughing, slurring back into the Cornucopia with his spear slung over his shoulder. "You can take care of him yourself, right, Cato?"

I yanked the sword out of its' hilt. "Yeah, I got it."

Peeta didn't look the least bit afraid. He peered behind me to make sure no one else was listening, and grew somewhat of a proud smirk. "Did I mention I also saw which way Katniss went?"

My senses froze, and I turned back around to look at him.

From the corner of my eye, Clove did the same.

"She survived?" I asked him, keeping my voice low.

"Yes."

"And you know which way she went?"

He grinned. "Which way, and what she was looking for."

I smiled now, squinting down at him. "And what would make a sorry little sap like you want to turn your girlfriend in to us?"

"She's not my girlfriend," his nose wrinkled with disgust. "She may be the one buying my words, but I'm definitely not. I feel bad for her, actually. She doesn't know the difference between talking and acting."

I let out a beaming smile, and Marvel hooted in the background. I wasn't sure if Lover Boy was telling the truth or not, but either way, I knew his addition would make things almost perfect for tracking down Katniss. She'd see him join up with us and automatically get disgusted with him- focusing more on me since she couldn't bear the idea of even acting like she was in love with him. That, or I'd be able to find her quicker if Peeta made impressions that he found her. I stuffed my sword back into the hilt, and gave the boy a whack on the shoulder.

"Alright, Lover Boy. Welcome to the Careers. You're coming with us when we scout tonight."

* * *

><p>For a District 12 tribute, the kid did surprisingly well.<p>

Once night fell over the arena, he helped pack up most of the good supplies, and threw two of the heaviest backpacks over his shoulders, filled with food and extra weapons. Turned out he really was watching other tributes during the course of the day, and he led us straight into two helpless tributes that were trying to disguise themselves in bushes. I killed the first one with ease; my sword driving right into the weakling's little stomach. The other tribute made it interesting, and made a run for it.

Marvel sprinted after him, laughing like an idiot. "Uh oh, little boy- I think I'm getting closer!" his voice was full of amusement.

The rest of us trailed behind him, the girls finding it hilarious how crazy he was. I cursed under my breath and shook my head. Marvel had been a bit crazy all day, the killings making him lose any sanity I thought he had. _Whatever_, I pushed the thought out of my head. Let the loser have his fun. Wasn't like I was going to let him live much longer, anyway.

Marvel was upon his victim now, the screams and pleading piercing through the night. I noticed Peeta turn away once the tribute's scream was cut off, the slicing of the spear making his eyes roll with guilt and disgust.

I slapped him hard on the back, pushing him along. "What's wrong with you, kid? Getting squeamish already?"

"No," Lover boy backfired.

I grinned. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I just think we should get moving," he explained. "Let the hovercrafts get the bodies. If the hovercraft comes down soon, then the tributes will know we're around here and will get out before we can get to them."

The kid had a point. I called Marvel to finish up, and the Career pack was on its' way to more kills, the sound of the cannon satisfaction to our ears. By the time we found our third victim, Marvel had calmed down, and we all were a lot more focused and composed.

"Smoke," he muttered, sniffing into the air.

Glimmer pointed ahead. "Over there!"

Sure enough, a small beam of orange flames licked from the top of a hill, smoke practically spilling in all directions. I was surprised no one else had killed the idiot, yet.

"That is _sad_," Clove smirked, shaking her head. "Not even challenging."

I agreed. The six of us all broke into a run at the same time, our weapons drawn for attack. I could see the tribute's face, now. The orange light bounced off of the face of a girl with curly hair, her eyes flashed open at the sound of our thundering footsteps. I smirked back at her, triumphant.

"Please,_ no_-" she started.

I sighed, reaching for her. The whole pleading thing was damn right annoying, and I wasn't going to hear anymore of it. My sword sliced through half of her stomach, and her scream nearly confirmed how deep the cut went. I released her arm, letting her bleeding body hit the floor. Clove and the others cheered at the success, giving me some high fives and pats on the back.

"Twelve down, eleven to go!"

The girl from District 4, Zora, started picking through the girl's supplies. From the looks of it, she only plucked a small backpack from the bloodbath. "I don't really see anything good," Zora said, peering through all the pockets. "Just a couple of ropes, which we already have."

"Yeah, just forget about it then," I stuffed the sword back into its' hilt. "Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking."

The other tributes followed my lead, tracking down a pathway full of shrubs and branches. Glimmer started slowing, a frown mixed in her expression. "Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?"

"I'd say yes," Clove stepped in. "Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately."

Zora looked at us. "Unless she isn't dead…"

"She's dead," I confirmed. "I stuck her myself."

"Someone should go back. Make sure the jobs done…"

"Yeah, we don't want to track her down_ twice_-"

"I said she's dead!"

They all started to turn against me, and my mind whirled with anger. Why didn't any of them ever listen to a damn word I said? I knew exactly where I stabbed her. I didn't need all this_ crap_-

"We're wasting time!" Peeta suddenly barked, and we all stopped to look at him. "I'll go finish her, and we can move on!"

Silence followed his outburst. Well, well. Looked like the famous Lover Boy was finally buffing up.

"Go on then, Lover Boy," I gestured towards the fire. "See for yourself."

The blond boy automatically turned on his heel and marched back to the flames, where the girl laid helpless next to her mistake. Clove waited for him to get a far enough distance away before she started ranting. "Why can't we just kill him now and get it over with?" She obviously didn't care how important it was for me to find Katniss. Or the psycho knew but wanted no part in helping me succeed.

"Let him tag along. What's the harm?" I said, avoiding my true reasons in front of Glimmer and Marvel. "And he's handy with that knife. Besides, he's our best chance at finding her."

The Careers all knew who I was referring to. Marvel grinned to himself, and I could see the dark shade of hatred well up in Glimmer's eyes. They wanted her dead as much as I did. Or, at least until President Snow came along and screwed everything up. "Why?" Zora piped up. "Do you think she bought into all that sappy romance stuff?"

"She might have. Seemed pretty simple minded to me."

I wanted to laugh at the irony. Katniss Everdeen would never truly fall for a twit like Lover Boy. But just to make sure I caused no suspicion amongst myself, I added. "Wish we knew how she got that eleven…"

"Bet you Lover Boy knows," Clove played along, catching my eye.

Peeta's footsteps trampled closer, and we all fell silent.

"Was she dead?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"No," he responded. "But she is now."

The cannon fired, and so did my annoyance.

"Ready to move on?"

Lover Boy was really starting to irritate me. It was bad enough I let him into the group, now everyone would be snickering behind my back. I shot him a deadly stare before pushing past all of them and began heading back into the woods. The second he showed any sign of betrayal, he'd meet the end of my blade; the same with his girlfriend. At least until I found her and sealed Snow's deal.

We decided to set up camp in the woods instead of going back to the Cornucopia. We'd head down there during the day to get more supplies.

Before we fell asleep with Marvel on guard, we went through our sponsor gifts, tearing through the parachutes. I got two personally, one of them containing some Capitol food that was actually appetizing. The other one was much more elegant, and only a small piece of paper sat at the bottom of the container. Frowning, I pulled it out and read the mere two words.

_Convince me…_

My eyes felt cold as I stared at it. A beautifully written 'S' was shaped at the bottom, the material of the paper only being from the Capitol. From President Snow.

He had no doubt seen the progress I had made, he had eyes and ears all around the training center and hovercraft. But his message was clear: what I was doing simply wasn't good enough. I needed to do better, be around her more. Make her want me. It was no longer a little game- it was a duty. A duty to convince President Snow.

Clove read the note from over my shoulder, and gave me a hallow look. She knew what it meant, just as I did. "Tomorrow," she mouthed, and I nodded. Thankfully, it seemed I still had someone to help cover me.

The note crumpled in my fist as I shifted back down, my head resting against the cool earth. Snow wanted a show?

I'd give him a show.

* * *

><p><strong>I apologize now if I messed up any of the character's words from the actual book- I don't have the book with me currently. Hopefully you guys will let it slide ^^<strong>

**Also, I changed the Bloodbath massacre to nine, so that the Careers could find more than the District 8 girl in the woods. From the Hunger Games wiki, it said the District 4 girl's name was Zora, so I kept it.**

**And… yeah, that's all I have to say. PLEASE review guys, reviews make me update faster ^^**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

><p>The Cornucopia had barely been touched when we returned. It was obvious <em>someone<em> had been picking through it once we'd left for the night, but whatever they took, it wasn't anything important. Only a couple dull knives nobody wanted, and a few pieces of food from one of the backpacks. I stuck my sword into the earth and leaned an elbow on it, waiting for the others to pick up anything else they wanted.

"I wonder when they're going to refill it," Zora muttered, perusing the ceiling of the Cornucopia.

"They'll have to, soon," Clove answered, strapping in some extra blades in her jacket pockets. "We're just going to need to stand by when they do."

I scoffed under my breath. Clove was more possessive of the Cornucopia than I was. She had to have every weapon, every scrap of food. It was a good thing we were on the same team, otherwise I'd end up with a knife in my back for trying to sneak something from her precious Cornucopia.

While they took their sweet time filling more food in their backpack pockets, I slung my sword over my shoulder, and let it lay sloppily behind the back of my neck while I stood at the mouth of the horn. My eyes ran over each detail of the trees, the enormous forest spreading for miles. Somewhere in that clump of wood was Katniss. Somewhere in there was my girl, my key to keeping my family safe. It was just impossible to decide where to start tracking her.

"Hey, Lover Boy," I turned around, motioning the blond boy over. He finished packing his food source and headed towards me, anxiousness intact in his expression. He had avoided my gaze all morning, and it made me suspicious. He must have seen Katniss sometime during our hunt the other night.

"Got a few questions for you," I said simply. I waited for the kid to nod before I continued. "You said you saw which way your girlfriend went. I need to know everything you know. Including where you think she'd be currently."

Peeta seemed unfazed, but I noticed him gulp before he answered. "Um… well, she looked like she was heading towards some source of water when I saw her last morning. But she's probably moved on since then."

I glared at him. "That doesn't help me. I need to know where she is _currently_ to find her, Lover Boy."

The other Careers snickered in the background, while Peeta started examining the forest again. "We should just head on in and start looking for her. You guys can search the ground in the bushes, and I'll look in the trees. She told me a few nights ago she was going to disguise herself in the ground."

I frowned, and leaned closer. "Why the ground?"

Peeta shrugged. "I guess she doesn't feel comfortable up in trees, or something. I don't know. I was trained separately, so I don't know everything."

I whipped my sword back in its' hilt and crossed my arms. I felt my muscles rip from under my jacket. "Does that mean you are of no use to us then, kid?"

Peeta blanched, and the other Careers started piling out of the Cornucopia to listen to our conversation. "I know enough about her to help you find her and kill her," Peeta asserted, jaunting away from me to head out towards the trees. "C'mon. This is where I last saw her go."

The damn kid wasn't slipping up yet. I needed some sort of proof that he wasn't going to be of help to us, some sort of trigger that would allow me to tear his arms off. I still hadn't forgotten about last night- how he so valiantly tried to show me up by killing a girl who _should_ have died by _my_ hand.

I was probably the laughing stock of the Capitol, now. My father was probably shaking his head as we walked.

Clove lingered behind Zora and the District 1 pair to speak to me. I could tell she had been itching to do so all morning. "You really think he'll lead us to her?"

I smiled a bit. "Well, what choice does he have? Its his life or hers."

Clove seemed to agree. "What are you going to do when we do find her?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

I didn't look at her. I didn't want to answer her, either. There were too many cameras, too many spies that could pick up what we were saying. Snow would have a fit if I ever said the plan out loud- out to the whole world.

"We'll see," is all I replied.

* * *

><p>The second day in the Hunger Games absolutely sucked.<p>

There was no action, whatsoever. The entire day we roamed aimlessly throughout the arena, our weapons ready to go to work. But none of the tributes showed up. None that we could see, anyway. My thirst for blood was getting out of control, and I was furious that the Gamemakers weren't doing a better job of at chasing some of the idiots towards us. It was so bad; I almost decided to get rid of Marvel early.

"Complete waste of time!" I muttered scathingly as I threw my blade against the tree we were setting up camp under. I was _so damn angry_! What the hell was going on?

The others murmured a bunch of 'keep it together's and 'calm down's. They were just as upset as I was, but they were too careless to show it. It angered me that we hadn't gotten any progress since last night, and even more that I wasted another day failing at finding Katniss. That girl really must have had the odds in her favor if we didn't come across her path at least once.

Surprisingly, though, I did get a couple more sponsors. Nobody seemed to care we hadn't ended anyone's life that day. Four parachutes lied waiting for me to open, and two were ready for Clove. Glimmer got the same amount as I did, but it didn't bother me as much as it should've. Let Princess roll around in her diamonds for all I cared.

Peeta didn't get any parachutes whatsoever. I smirked down at him as he was straightening out his sleeping bag. "No helpers, Lover Boy?"

"It's fine," he didn't seem the least bit disappointed. "I don't need any help."

I continued smirking. Oh, he would need plenty help in time.

Marvel was the one to wake to me up for my turn at watch. "Get up, man," he said ruggedly, throwing a backpack on my chest. Irritated, I pushed it off as I rubbed my eyes.

"Yeah, I got it. I was awake before you flubbed that thing on me, dumbass."

He sneered as he positioned himself on his sleeping bag. "Good night, sunshine."

I scoffed in return.

Besides Marvel who was just beginning to drift off, everyone else was in deep sleep. Clove looked strange, with all her muscles loosened and relaxed like a normal person, and Zora and Peeta had their faces stuffed in the warm material. Glimmer had her back to me, but her blonde hair was falling out of her braids, the two fish bones that made me want to puke at how badly they were done.

I decided to go through one of the backpacks to search for something to eat. I hated being on watch. There was nothing to do. Nothing but examine the surroundings like some nature freak. It had to have been early morning, around six or seven, yet the skies were clear and clean of any sort of fog or mist. It was natural in District 2 to wake up to those kinds of mornings, the ones where you could barely see anything through the thick atmosphere. But I remembered it had been perfect work out weather, and perfect for weight lifting in the mountains.

I hadn't realized I had drifted off until the striking scent of smoke filled my nose, shaking me to life. My first thoughts were of another tribute, another idiot that decided to build a fire right in front of us. But that idea quickly vanished when I peered behind the tree I had been leaning against. Ash was falling like mad over the flames that were now engulfing the forest behind me.

"FIRE!" I screamed, and I quickly threw a backpack over my shoulder. The others automatically woke to the sound of my voice and scurried for their supplies, yelling words of panic.

Boots pounded against the Earth as we raced for an escape, the entire forest collapsing under the weight of the flames. _What the hell_? Were the Gamemakers trying to kill us off already- before we had a chance to finish off all the others? Did we do something to piss them off?

Whatever it was, I didn't stop for a second. We leapt over bushes, hurdled over logs, and ran like wild men, the smoke blinding us with its' cruel shield.

"WAIT!" I heard from somewhere behind us, Zora I think it was. She was coughing like an animal now, and we all barely faltered.

"We can't stop!" I yelled at them. If anything, it would be good to get rid of her before I had to. Zora was stumbling to her feet now, blindly trying to run with us through her smoke.

"GET UP!" Clove screamed at her.

A huge branch toppled over from a few yards away, sparks flying and clasping themselves to our skin. They burned at my neck and part of my cheek, and I started swearing angrily as I wiped them off. We needed to move before we all paid the price for sticking around.

Eventually, and luckily, the fire seemed to falter when we reached the river. There was no hesitation, we all jumped straight into the water the second our eyes caught the glimmer of sunlight against it. Refreshment washed through me at the cool feeling, and I quickly resurfaced to check if the fire was still going. The flames seemed to lick back and cease their fiery passion, the Gamemakers deciding that was enough. I cursed them in the back of my mind and crawled out of the river, shaking my hair. "Did everyone make it?"

The others were following my lead. Clove squeezed her wet ponytail as she climbed out of the water, her pants dragging down from the weight of the water. "Yeah, but it looks like Zora passed out," she motioned towards Marvel out in the center of the river, dragging a limp dark haired girl with him.

I shook my head, scowling. "Why did we ever let her in? She's so weak its making my eyes hurt." Peeta climbed out and automatically turned over on his back, his stomach falling up and down rapidly. As much as I didn't want to admit it, he had the right idea. I saw the burn marks along his jacket and the sparks that had sprayed his skin. I ran my hand along my hair and flinched when the top of it singed with heat. Apparently, part of my hair had been on fire at some point.

The other Careers seemed to have more injuries than I did. Something was wrong with Marvel's calf, and Peeta had some bad burn marks. Zora remained unconscious for a good while, even while we set up camp by the river to regroup. A lot of our supplies had been left behind in the fire, and a lot of the food was all soggy and disgusting. It looked like we'd have to head back to the Cornucopia as fast as possible.

"Can you guys walk, yet?" I demanded, hating how raspy my voice had become.

The Careers looked up at me wearily. Zora had started to wake up, and she seemed to be able to sit up fine. "I'm good to go," Clove pitched in, standing up. "Don't know about_ them_, though."

Everyone glared at her. "Well, I can go, too," Glimmer stood up, slinging her bow and arrows over her shoulder. Marvel agreed to go, insisting that his calf didn't hurt when he walked on it. Being the only one left, Peeta agreed as well.

We decided not to move as fast as we usually did, but we did keep a good pace as we headed back to the Cornucopia. The hike there would probably cost us another morning, but we were in desperate need of supplies, and I was _not_ going to eat anymore soggy crap. And, who knew? Maybe we'd find an unlucky tribute along the way and pluck them off. The cause of the fire had been created to drive us together. Where were those little saps? Were they even around?

Apparently, one of them was, because in a nearby pond, splashing could be heard as a figure dashed out of it, fleeing.

My heart leapt as I noticed the bouncing braid.

_Katniss._

* * *

><p>"There she is!" Marvel seemed to notice a second after I did. We all took off running, aiming straight for the direction her bright orange backpack disappeared from behind the bushes. I could hear their raspy laughs from behind me, the excitement washing through them. Even I couldn't stop the huge grin erupting from my face.<p>

_She's mine now_, I thought devilishly.

Marvel was whistling after her, keeping up with my pace fairly well. "Where you going, huh? Where you going?"

I decided to join in, and the hoots and cheers from the girls rang out from the sides. I checked behind me once to see if Peeta was dragging with us, and it apparently he was. I didn't even care that his face was holding a crap full of worry for his girlfriend- I was too damn excited. What holy odds I had!

I crashed through the leaves and leapt over the logs with bliss, seeing her frantically stop in front of one of the tallest trees up ahead. "Where you going, baby?" I called loud enough for her to hear. She threw a quick glance behind herself, and I saw her hands reach for the knots in the tree, heaving herself up into the branches. I smirked to myself. What did she think she was doing?

"Where you going, girl on fire?" The Careers and I all pooled around the base of the tree, watching her progress. She was actually getting pretty high up there, too far for me to jump up and pull her back down. When she was about twenty feet up, she stopped squirreling through the slim branches and looked down at us, somewhat of a relieved smile on her face.

"How's everything with you?" I heard her call.

We all looked up at her in disbelief. Her voice sounded cheerful, despite the terrible fate we had upon her._ Captivating_, I thought to myself. She was obviously doing this for the cameras. Every camera had to be directed on the showdown between the Careers and the Fire Girl.

"Well enough," I played along. "Yourself?"

"It's been a bit warm for my taste," she said casually. Then it hit me, and I cursed myself for not noticing the burn marks and the red gash in her leg before. She almost died in the fire, too. "The air's better up here. Why don't you come on up?"

"Think I will," I smiled up at her.

Marvel and Clove gave me some approving pats on the back as I approached the tree, sizing it up. "Here, take this, Cato," Glimmer started to unravel her bow and arrows. Scoffing, I pushed them away. I didn't need that crap. "No, I'll do better with my sword."

Katniss waited until I actually hoisted myself into the tree before she started to climb again. I grinned to myself, already imagining what was I was going to do when I reached her. Should I make her fall off? No, that would be much too easy of a death. Perhaps I should do a little seducing before I killed her, just like Snow had wanted-

_Snap!_

Dread washed through me and I desperately tried to reach for another thing to hold on to.

_Too late-_ I was already pummeling towards the ground.

I hit the ground hard, but I didn't feel pain. Automatically, I belted back upwards, swearing at the dumb branch that couldn't support me. The whole Capitol was probably laughing at me, now. _Damn it!_

The smallest crack of a grin formed on Clove's lips, and I hated her for it. How dare she laugh at me! I was the only reason she was probably still alive- I saved her butt this morning, hell- I saved_ all_ their damned lives! What the hell was wrong with everyone? Were they trying to make me look like some sort of fool?

Glimmer attempted to climb, but she quickly jumped down when the branch under her started to crack. We all stared up at Katniss furiously, hating her guts and that damned triumphant smirk on her face. She should be happy. She should be_ thankful_ I hadn't gotten my hands on her. Glimmer gave one more attempt to shoot an arrow at her, but it was horribly placed and it made me want to smack my head in embarrassment. She was making the Careers look as helpless as any other tribute.

Katniss retrieved Glimmer's arrow and waved it down at us, a very messed up thing to do. None of us were smiling now, and we were running out of ideas to get Katniss out of that damned tree. "You should climb," Glimmer shoved her sheath of bows in Clove's hands. "You're the lightest."

"Are you kidding? I_ hate_ climbing-"

"Well, someone's got go!"

"Oh, let her stay up there," Peeta suddenly spoke, exasperated. "It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning."

All of us looked at the blond kid. I suppose that was the only thing we could do- she was way too far up, and it was getting late. I hated the feeling of not being able to get to her, that we were so useless when we could have easily killed her. Why did she have to choose _that _tree?

Oh, whatever, my mind decided. Let her stay up there. She'd have to come down sometime, and it would give me more time to think up a plan. More time to keep her trapped and force her to listen to me.

The Careers started setting up camp while I rolled up my jacket sleeves. If we were making camp here, _someone_ would have to go back to the Cornucopia while the rest of us kept watch. We really needed supplies, and I couldn't rely on anyone smart enough to keep Katniss hostage in my place. I was _not_ letting her escape.

I jaunted the tip of my sword in Peeta's chest. "You go with the girls to the Cornucopia."

On cue, all the females turned to look at me with frowning faces. "What? Why do _we_ have to go?" Glimmer crossed her arms.

"Because I said," I told her venomously. "Marvel and I will stay here and keep watch. You three go with Lover Boy."

"You said yourself that the Cornucopia is a long trip," Clove pointed out.

"Then make camp if it's that hard for you," I rolled my eyes. "Besides, you'll have the kid to look after you guys, right, Peeta?" The blond boy obviously didn't like his situation, but nodded never the less.

"So while we're hauling _your_ supplies, you and Marvel are just going to be sitting here on your asses 'til we get back?"

"We're keeping guard," I motioned towards the tree. "And fine, if you guys really want to eat that soggy crap, then be my guest. There's a whole bag of it in that backpack right by your feet." I walked away from them and started gathering wood for the fire. Glimmer and Clove exchanged looks with Zora, and finally, they decided to go through with my plan.

"Whatever," Glimmer scoffed. "Just don't let her escape. C'mon, kid. We might run into some tributes on our way."

The girls lit a torch and headed back into the woods, Peeta following their heels awkwardly. I sharpened my sword until they were a far enough distance away, and their small beam of orange light couldn't be seen anymore.

"You really think they'll make it back?" Marvel asked me.

I nodded it off. "They got Clove, they'll be fine. No tribute is going to want to ambush them. The Cornucopia isn't even all that far away. They can make it back before we fall asleep if they walked fast enough."

Marvel fixed up his sleeping bag and laid it on a flat ground. I sat down and kept the fire going, jerking my sleeves back down to my cuffs. It really wasn't all that cold out yet, but my shirt was still a bit wet from the river we had jumped in earlier that morning.

"Hey, sweetness!" My head jerked up to look at Marvel, who was staring up into the tree in some sort of idiotic daze. "Why don't you come down? It's just us, now. The girls won't be back for a while."

I smirked at him, and searched the tree for the girl. It looked like she had also prepared her sleeping bag, and her head was leaned against the tree as she glared down at us. "Not a chance in hell," she called back down to us, her tone hard.

"Aw, c'mon," Marvel cooed. "It's not like we're going to kill you, yet."

"I'll take the death sentence over anything you'll try to do to me down there," Katniss muttered, and I saw her head roll the other way.

I smiled greatly. "Didn't I tell you, Marvel? She has the dirtiest mind in the world. I never understood how a girl from District 12 could come to such conclusions."

Vaguely, I saw Katniss's head whip back around. "_I_ didn't back someone up against a bow rack and get all up in their business!" she said scathingly, and I continued smiling. It was entertaining when she got angry. And, she basically confirmed to Snow that I had made an effort to seduce her and had succeeding in getting in her head.

"You haven't forgotten about that, Katniss?" I asked innocently. "You must have been thinking of that an awful lot if you still remember it."

She looked furious, and I loved every bit of it. "You're disgusting," she muttered, and shifted in her tree. Marvel was written with pure amusement, and he played with the point of his spear while he listened to us.

"I like her, Cato," Marvel mused. "She seems to have a thing for you. You should get her to come down."

I grinned proudly. Katniss scoffed at Marvel's words and shifted the opposite direction, trying her best to ignore us. I deeply wished her act of neglect was because she couldn't find the heart to deny it, not that she finally figured out talking to us was only making things worse for her. _Too bad, Fire Girl_, I thought. She wasn't falling asleep on me that fast.

"Why don't you come down, sweetheart?" I called up, and I vaguely saw her stiffen in her sleeping bag. "We get a lot of sponsors, I'm sure one of them could spare me a case of medicine if I asked for it. Could help your leg a lot. What do you say? All you have to do is come down."

Katniss cast me a glare. "And why would you help me?"

The cameras seemed to zoom in on me for my answer; I could sense it. Everyone wanted to know the secret of my motives, what would make the true winner and Career from District 2 want to help a poor girl from District 12. I thought about her question carefully, but Marvel opened his mouth before I could.

"We just want to have a bit of fun! Surely you already thought about it before, right, 12? All these long, lonely nights in the death arena…" he paused for her answer, but she didn't respond. "Damn, has a guy ever even come onto you, 12?"

"Why don't you keep your little fantasies to yourself," Katniss directed back at him, and I laughed at Marvel's expression. "No one wants to hear it."

Marvel and Katniss exchanged more bickers while I removed my wet jacket and laid it next to the fire, figuring I mind as well get it dried while we were here. It was unknown when we were going to leave this spot, whenever Katniss made a run for it, I supposed. Then again, Katniss seemed to strike me more wise than desperate. She'd be better off starving in that damned tree than letting herself fall in our clutches.

Of course, there would be no fun if she didn't try.

Marvel was going off on something involving how many girls he supposedly was with back at home when I caught Katniss's stare. I gave her a ripe grin as I looked back up at her. "Give her a break, Marvel," I said. "She's probably not used to that much male attention."

"Ex_cuse_ me?" Katniss's grey eyes were stormy in the moonlight.

"What? Can you prove me wrong, sweetheart?"

"Toss me one of your fancy weapons and I'll _show_ you how wrong you are."

"Then come down here!" I stood up with my arms spread open. "Come down, and show me how much fire you got, Girl on Fire. I want to see how _sparked up_ you can get." Marvel hooted his approval, and our laughs rung throughout the arena.

After what had happened there, Katniss decided to pack up her sleeping bag and climb even further up the tree, to the point where she was barely visible to me. Poor girl. Couldn't take the least bit of our games anymore.

Somehow, however, I had to rack myself even deeper into her mind. The jaunty comments were entertaining, but it still wasn't enough. Not for Snow, and definitely not for me. Now that I had already strapped myself into the realization of Snow's game, it was becoming more attractive as time went on. I wanted Katniss to break. I wanted to see her eyes full of lust and betrayal when I drove my blade into her gut. I needed to see her helpless. The game was already in motion, and there was no going back.

Trust. As useless as it was, that was what I needed to aim for. Katniss needed to feel comfortable around me, and the only way that could happen was for her to be in our alliance. No trust could be built without some sick friendship level, as idiotic as it seemed.

And it meant both tributes from 12 would be stuck with the Careers.

No, I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't risk the chance of them trying to gang up on us when I needed her trust first. They already had some sort of jacked up connection that made me sick just thinking about it, and Lover Boy would _not_ get between us. Perhaps I could kill him when he came back. After all, he had no more purpose now that we found Katniss.

Yes, I would do that.

Marvel and I stayed awake for the remainder of the night, sharpening our weapons and planning out our battle strategies for the following days. The District 1 fool fell asleep early with his spear in his grip, and I positioned Clove's rolled up sleeping back under my head, staring up into the tree where my prey was resting somewhere in the shadows.

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><p><strong>Next chapter should be up soon- tell me what you guys think!<strong>

**Review ^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

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><p>Somehow, Marvel thought it was a good idea to throw <em>another<em> backpack on my chest to wake me for watch duty. Lucky for him, however, he had already hit the ground asleep before I could open my eyes and pummel him.

The atmosphere was filled with scents of earth and trees, a layer of crisp fog blocking the fake sky. It irritated me how exaggerated the Gamemakers were making the morning appear so realistic. I had been awake every morning in District 2 for training. Never once had it been foggy and warm at the same time. What a disappointing, poor job on the Gamemakers' part.

I forced myself to sit up and avoid drifting back to sleep, my face falling in my hands. Keeping watch was such a stupid, irritating job. Nobody would dare try to attack the Careers all at once, anyway. The only reason we even had to keep watch was to make sure Katniss…

Wait.

Automatically, I bolted upwards, leaves scrambling at my movement.

Katniss wasn't in her usual spot in the tree.

Dread ate at my insides as I desperately perused the tree for her sleeping bag, her figure. There was no way she could have escaped! Marvel had been keeping watch, hadn't he? Everyone had kept watch at some point. Did one of those idiots drift off at some point, leaving Katniss the opportunity to slip down and get away?

God, someone was about to die.

I quickly grabbed my sword and started tracking around the tree, my eyes fixed upwards. Damn it, Marvel. _When I got my hands on you…_

My footsteps slowed.

There she was. Her sleeping bag was about forty feet in the air, laid out on a rather fat branch, dripping off the sides. A rope was wrapped around her waist to strap her in, and her head was leaned against the tree, her dark braid hanging over her shoulder. Her usual fiery grey eyes were closed and relaxed. She never left.

Relief washed through me as I pushed the sword back into the hilt. Damn, Katniss pissed me off. Making me worry like that, all because she decided to change her sleeping post sometime during the course of the night. Perhaps that was her goal from the start. To hope we didn't find her and slink away when we all ran off trying to look for her somewhere else. _Nice try, dear._

The rest of the Careers hadn't noticed my outburst at all. They were still tucked in their sleeping bags while I perused through our supplies for food. I supposed there was no way I could blame them. I was exhausted as well. But unlike them, I wasn't going to let it slow me down.

When I found a couple of nuts and berries in one of the bags, I grabbed the same sword and headed over to one of the trees that had a clear vision line of Katniss. My head found a comfortable spot against it, and I ate the fruit lazily, watching and waiting for the District 12 girl to make some sort of movement. Part of me wanted her to wake up. It would be only us two again, and I was truthfully aching to fire up the seductive exterior.

But Katniss remained still and relaxed. My impish urges would have to wait.

Dully, I examined one of the berries between my fingers and watched it pop as I hardened the pressure. The juice ran paths down my fingers, past my wrist, and down my arm. They really were disgusting. I always expected the Capitol to do a little better job with the quality- especially since they _had_ all the damn food in the world. _Greedy assholes…_

A small movement from Katniss's head snapped me out of my daze. She was still asleep, only shifting to a more comfortable spot on her branch. My eyes fastened securely on her figure, waiting for some kind of sign she had awakened. But all the fire girl did was let out a relaxed sigh and resume to a painful yet peaceful sleep.

The way her head was turned gave me a better look at her face. I had seen her wild and fiery up close several times, but this seemed different, even with her being forty feet in the air. How had Snow found this skimpy girl to be such a threat to his country? She _was_ something, something that I would've never expected from such a poor district. And, she was mildly talented; I'd give her that. But was that really enough? Snow had never done anything like this, never been so concerned for the country over a Hunger Games tribute. There had to be something I didn't know about her. Something Snow was keeping from me. And it must have been _huge._

* * *

><p>I hadn't realized I had dozed off until some annoying bird started screaming like hell had broke loose. <em>Stupid Capitol mutations<em>, I thought bitterly, scraping the leaves and dirt off my pants. I slung a backpack strap over my shoulder and trudged back to the Careers once I made sure Katniss was still in her same spot. I roughly let the backpack fall inches from Glimmer's face, and nestled into the earth for some more sleep.

Glimmer jerked awake at the moment, and sat up abruptly. "What the hell?" she muttered in a raspy tone, her knuckles rubbing her tired eyes.

"You're up for duty," I simply responded.

"What?" she seemed irritated. "I took watch once we got back from the Cornucopia!"

"I know. We're going around again."

Of course, the princess started to whine. "Oh my _God_-"

"Quit your damn complaining," I interrupted, irritation flooding through me. "District 12 is on the other side of the tree. Go keep an eye on her, and make sure she doesn't escape. Or else you're the one going to replace her death."

Glimmer smirked. "Don't worry, pretty boy," she purred. "I'll make sure no other guy gets to rape her while you're around. Clove told me how possessive you get."

I gave her an enticing smile before my head hit the earth and I was out like a light. Hopefully, the cycle for watch duty wouldn't return to me before the sun came up and everyone was ready to go. If that happened, I was waking Princess up the second Marvel was asleep.

I'd say I was asleep for a good half in hour until I felt a series of sharp, agonizing pains.

* * *

><p>There was no time to even question what the hell was going on.<p>

Screams followed hysterically, and my vision was blurred with the pictures of tiny black specks swarming the air and attacking skin. I could hear the angry humming, the pounding of my heart screaming that we were under attack.

I grabbed the first backpack I was closest to and swatted the mad wasps that were vigorously trying to get to flesh. "To the lake!" I commanded loudly, already dashing through the bushes as I went. "_To the lake_!"

Footsteps pounded after me, and their raspy voices heaved with desperation. The humming could still be heard, and I knew whatever the hell that attacked us wasn't far away. _Water_, my mind screamed. It was the only safe place when under attack by dangerous mutations. A good percentage of Capitol beasts never attacked victims in water. I trudged over the logs with intensity, my stings beginning to burn with pure pain.

Glimmer wailed from long behind me. She was probably calling for help.

_No chance._

Water caught my eye from up ahead, and we all sprinted the extra distance before flying off the edge, into the safety of the coolness. The water knotted at my stings, and they seemed to scream even more at the temperature. My teeth clenched at the marks, but I forced myself to find my hands and clear my vision from the surfaced water. Whatever band of creatures that attacked us had disappeared.

And so did the last of Peeta, his blond hair disappearing behind the layers of leaves. A wet trail followed him, from when he had jumped into the safety of the water with us. I didn't even look to see who else had gotten away. My heart only hammered in realization.

_Katniss._

"Cato…" I heard Clove start to utter.

Too late. My legs pounded through the water towards the shore, the weight trying to slow me down. Katniss was _not_ getting away. And there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to let her precious Lover Boy help her. I scraped through the bustling of plants with raw strength, my rage making my body accelerate even more. That tree- I had to find that_ tree_-

_Damn, those stings hurt like a mother…_

From somewhere up ahead, Peeta was yelling. I could barely make it out through the giant swelling next to my ear, but I knew enough. I knew _exactly_ what that idiot was doing, and exactly what I'd do once I reached him.

His sandy hair shook violently as he pushed at the braided District 12 girl, flashing back a glance as he screamed louder. "Run!" he demanded. "RUN!"

_Like hell!_

I crashed through the rest of the bushes just as Katniss disappeared in a random direction. Maybe it was my boiling anger that had me so fazed, but my vision seemed to go hazy, and I couldn't concentrate on which way the girl had truly gone. Instead, I tried focusing on the boy. "You are so fucked, you know that kid?" I said almost shakily, laughing through my rage.

Peeta didn't answer. Instead, he tackled me to the ground, and tried to grasp hold of his spear along the way. I didn't give him the chance. Using all my strength, I rolled back over, and reached for my sword, missing his neck by centimeters. I swore out loud, and the two of us tangled like dogs, attacking each other's limbs.

I couldn't waist anymore time with this joke. There wasn't time for a nice, tortuous death like he deserved. Katniss could _not_ escape, especially in front of _Snow_-

Using the remainder of my strength, I ripped my arm out of Peeta's grip and plunged the sword deep in his upper leg. Dark red spilled from the wound, and he could barely contain his agonized howl. My vision went blurry for a second, and then I was gone, pounding through the woods in search of the girl.

Leaves and branches were everywhere. Some of them seemed much larger in size, the size of houses, but I crashed through them anyway. Whatever venom those demon wasps decked me with was definitely getting to my head. My mind spun and suddenly I was looking backwards…

_No. Katniss_. I forced myself to focus. _You have to find Katniss!_

The damned girl was nowhere in sight!

Perhaps I went the opposite direction, because there wasn't anything in front of me. No braided girl, no orange backpack. Just miles and miles of wildlife. My own heavy breathing was becoming audible.

My feet stumbled through the shrubs and my pace slowed. There some sort of dark heap up ahead, laid face down in the plants. Its' hair was strung in some fancy, dark braid, and huge sting marks were implanted on the skin. I stuck my sword in the ground for support, and I was finally able to comprehend who it was.

Katniss was passed out in front of me.

And completely at my mercy.

The huge grin spread across my face vanished in almost the next instant. The stings ached and swelled, and I was suddenly on the ground, watching Katniss disintegrate and transform into some kind of sick, green liquid. The liquid pooled around the hands holding me up, and I stared in horror as it began snaking up my arms. Peeta's agonized howl rang from the background. Why did his scream resemble mine so closely?

Darkness impaled my vision, and I was left with an unanswered question.

* * *

><p>Tracker jackers.<p>

Those little jerks.

I remembered watching them on a previous Hunger Games showing. They flooded out of their hive in a mad swarm, eating the tribute alive with their deadly stings. The tribute died looking like a deformed animal in the end, and my mother had to hide my sister's eyes from how gruesome it looked. One of my mentors had warned Clove and I about them, but I always assumed I wouldn't have to deal with them. They were in trees, and I planned to stay on the ground.

But the Hunger Games always liked to change things up. And Katniss wasn't going to have it any other way for us.

_Katniss._

Automatically, my eyes bolted open, and my hands flung to my line of vision. As far as I could tell, there was no green liquid that had slithered up my arms. No blurry images of grass and leaves. Everything was back to normal. Everything except the searing pains, one under my left eye and the other on my wrist. What the hell? It seemed like I had many more stings, previously. Everywhere it had burned, _ached_…

The snapping of a twig brought me out from my confusion. The small figure of a dark, curly haired girl scurried up the nearest tree, and I could only watch in awe as she got a safe distance up. If possible, she was a better and faster climber than Katniss.

The female from District 11, no doubt. I hadn't really paid attention to the reaping showings, but I remembered hearing about a twelve year old being reaped. I felt almost pity for the girl. She was going to get wiped out easier than anybody, and it was a shame there was nothing she could really do. Especially if_ I _crossed her path.

But somehow she had managed to stay alive this long. A seven for a District 11 twelve year old wasn't bad at all. And now I got to witness the girl's strength front row.

Groaning, I forced myself up and retrieved my sword, along with the bag of supplies I had taken from the tracker jacker attack. Seeing Katniss before me wasn't just a vision. From the lines of dirt and smashed plants, I could tell the District 11 girl had been trying to pull her further out into the woods, although it appeared she only succeeded with a few extra yards. Wet leaves hugged Katniss's marks, and she was still out cold.

I slung the backpack strap over my shoulder, glaring up into the branches. The girl had been smart to climb when I woke. There was no way I was going after her up there. No more trees for me.

"Hey, girl!" I called up in a harsh tone. "Kid!"

The tree remained still, and she remained hidden behind one of the fat branches. Sighing, I trudged to the other side and found her eyes, wide brown and filled with terror. The rest of her body seemed to camouflage in the shadows.

I jaunted my sword in Katniss's direction. "Did you do that to her?" The tip of my blade gestured to the leaves attached to her skin.

From what I could see, the little girl gave me a hesitant nod.

"Will they keep her alive?"

Another nod.

Well, I supposed that was somewhat good news. Snow didn't have to think I was taking the easy way with her death. I could take her back with me to the Careers, and be there when she woke up. We could probably convince her that we were the ones who healed her, and she'd join the alliance thinking I saved her life. It was a perfect solution.

My eyes averted from the tree, back down to the unconscious Katniss. The same silver bow and wreath of arrows in Glimmer's possession were now tucked in her limp fingers. Strange. She must have grabbed them before Lover Boy ran up and screwed everything up for me.

Sighing, I reached down and added the band of arrows to my shoulder, along with the bow. I saved Katniss for last, and scooped her up with ease, her head adjusting against my chest. I carried weights back at home heavier than her. She seemed a lot lighter than she appeared.

With my prize in my arms, I started back in the direction of the river. No doubt the remaining Careers would make camp there until I returned. They probably wouldn't be too disappointed that Katniss was joining the group. Clove would understand, and Marvel would be more than happy to have her around. Besides, after that whole tracker jacker incident, we lost a fair amount of numbers.

I decided it wasn't worth trying to get to the District 11 girl. There wasn't a chance in hell I was going to try and climb another tree, especially when everyone in Panem was probably still laughing about the last time I attempted. The fire girl was my first priority, and it wouldn't hurt to let the little kid off the chain after she saved my ass helping Katniss. Perhaps by the time we had to start hunting for her, someone else would've killed her off by then.

Still, I must have doubted her concern, because she scrambled out to the exposed part of the branch and called out after me. "What are you planning to do with her?" her voice was small, and child-like.

I glanced backwards like her question was an annoying bug. "Don't worry, kid," I told her. "She'll be just fine with me and the others."

The girl's worried stare burned a hole in my back. I almost got a good distance away until part of Katniss's leg rolled down my arm, hitting the enormous sting mark on my inner wrist. Automatically, flares of pain erupted from the contact, and I nearly dropped her, hissing in agony.

"Damn…" I muttered.

Eleven's small figure suddenly appeared in the branches above me, hopping through the trees with ease. She held a hand around the stump for support, and I could see her examining my wound. By the way her eyes were rounded and her mouth draped in, I knew it wasn't something to ignore and take lightly. "Where did you get those leaves you put on her?" I demanded. Damn, I needed some of those.

"Back over there," her tiny finger pointed in the east direction, opposite of the river.

"Yeah?" I said stiffly. "You're from District 11? The agriculture one?"

She nodded slowly.

"Figures, then," I muttered. "And the leaves will make the swelling go down?"

"They draw out poison."

"The poison isn't the problem," I examined my wrist, lightly pressing a finger to the bulging center. "If it was that fatal, it would've killed me, by now. I need the swelling to go down."

"You didn't take out the stinger yet," another tiny finger directed towards my wound. "If you would've taken it out sooner, it wouldn't be that big. It would be easier to heal."

I gave her an irritated look. "And you're an expert on this crap?"

She looked slightly taken aback. "We have a lot of animals back at home, including wasps," she explained. "They always say to take out the stinger as soon as possible. I'm sure those aren't any different. It helped hers go away." She motioned to Katniss.

It was hard to figure out what connection she had with District 12. There had to be some sort of trust level between the two, especially if the girl was willing to save Katniss instead of worry about one less tribute. Or perhaps the young District 11 girl was really just that naïve. Little kids in the games were always hard to understand.

"I can go get you the same leaves as hers," the girl offered.

I frowned. "No, I rather get them myself." I decided to explain further when she unleashed a confused expression. "Who knows what kind of plant you'll bring me back. It could be a deadly poison, for all I knew. And, it actually would be a pretty wise way to get rid of me."

Despite my intended seriousness, the District 11 girl actually flashed me the smallest of grins. "Yeah, I guess it would."

"See? Exactly," I found myself looking into the eyes of my younger sister. "You're already plotting to kill me. That's why I never trust kids. They're always a lot more sinister than I expect."

"I don't want to kill anyone," the girl admitted.

"That's a dangerous move you just played," I told her in return. "You just told me one of your weaknesses. Not a very smart thing to do in an arena filled with murder. Everyone's for their own, you can trust no one when everyone's trying to survive."

"Well, you trust the other tributes from 1 and 2," The girl moved freely in her a tree, seemingly a lot more comfortable. "And I've seen your weakness first hand."

"I wouldn't trust Clove for a second," I murmured. "And what do you mean?"

"I was there when you tried climbing after Katniss."

"_What_?"

"I saw you fall," she smirked brilliantly.

My lip twisted into a grim sneer. "I advise you now not to taunt me. From the looks of this tree, it could hold my weight. You don't want me coming up there and bashing that smile right back into your head."

She recoiled. "If you do that, you won't know which leaves to get. Then, you'll eventually die from the tracker jacker sting. If it's wedged in there long enough, the poison can spread further in, and eventually stop your heart."

Was this girl actually telling the truth? The sting didn't seem that fatal, but I really needed to bring it down a couple levels. I couldn't rely until tonight when I would hopefully get a sponsor for medicine. This girl was my best chance at curing them, along with Katniss's.

It appeared I was going to be stuck with the females from the two poorest districts for quite a while.

* * *

><p><strong>Things aren't going to be so good and happy soon, so don't get used to it ;) This is going to be a dark story, after all.. and there will be a lot more CatoXKatniss interaction in the next chapter! Please review guys ^^<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

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><p>"AHH!" Pain rocked through my arm. "<em>Mother fu<em>-"

"Shh," the small, District 11 girl murmured. "Stop moving, you're making it worse. I think it's going in deeper."

"_Then get it out_," I demanded through clenched teeth. Damn, those tracker jacker stings hurt like hell. The one ledged in my wrist produced a bump the size of a small apple, and the only way to get it out according to the little agriculture genius, was to dig out the stinger. "Just do it," I pressed when she hesitated to touch it.

She did, and I struggled to keep in another scream. "I got part of it," she sighed, pressing one of her special leaves to the wound. "There's still a piece inside, but I think we should see if the swelling goes down first."

I breathed heavily, trying to wait out the agony. "Why is the leaf wet?"

"I chewed it."

"_What?"_ I sat up abruptly, and she backed off on instinct. Since when did child-saliva leaves help stings? I started to unpeel it frantically, until she held up a shaky hand.

"N-No stop!" she started. "The fluid helps it heal. You have to leave it on!"

I hastily started to stand up, growling furiously. The girl read my movements before I even did, and she scurried up the next tree possible, her eyes shaking. Realization flooded through me, and my anger cooled as I roughly sat back down. "Sorry," I muttered, hating apologies. "I wasn't going to kill you."

She remained still in the tree shadows. "You scared me," she slowly eased out from behind the large branch. "You were reaching for your sword…"

"Actually, that was just me trying to get up," I explained. "I'm in no position to do anything. I doubt I can even hold up that damned sword- much less attempt to chase you down." My fingers sickly dabbed the wet leaves back in position. "Are you sure this is the only way to get this crap fixed?"

The girl hesitated before answering, making no movement to come down from the tree. "Well… the leaves have to be wet. And since there's no water close by…"

"What are you talking about? There's water…" I looked over my shoulders, failing to locate the lake we had jumped in to escape from the tracker jacker attack. I must have chased Katniss farther than I thought. "Well, there was some somewhere around here. Back in the direction I came from."

"I don't remember where that was."

"Me neither."

"Well… adjust that leaf so it's entirely over the sting," Eleven instructed. "Maybe after a while, you can use the sword to cut into the wound and get the rest of the stinger out." She made it seem very clear she wasn't getting near my wound again.

I sighed, and did as she instructed. We had been out there for a couple hours now, the position of the fake sun indicating it was around midday. Neither of us had done anything truly productive with the tracker jacker stings, and the constant agony throughout my arm served as a healthy reminder. It was a fair statement to say it was a crap day, all in all.

Never once did Katniss stir back awake. A few times, I had to lightly kick her in the waist to see if she was still breathing, which always earned a glare and argument from my twelve year old companion. Every couple hours, the kid would peel all her leaves off and replace them with new ones, and I would get a glimpse of how much better Katniss's stings looked compared to mine.

"When's she going to wake?" I finally asked, staring down at her limp form.

"I don't know," Eleven responded honestly. "Could be a couple hours, could be a couple days."

Damn, this arrangement sucked. I needed to get back to the Careers as soon as possible, and get Katniss to slip up to President Snow's wishes. Already I had spent most of the time in the arena trying to live up to his expectations, I didn't want it to remain my number one priority for the _entire_ game. I needed to get her back to the Careers with me.

I waited a good remainder of the day for a sign of Clove or Marvel to show up, but they never did. They had to have been looking for me; I'd been gone for hours. But I guessed with Marvel still in the group, like the idiot he was, he led the two of them a completely different direction. It was only confirmed further when a hovercraft took off miles away from my location, and the face of the male District 10 tribute filled the sky.

The girl physically jumped at the sound of the kid's cannon. I watched her expression unfold into pounding fear, like she just realized she was still in the arena, and everyone was still fighting to the death. After his picture melted away, she slowly looked back at me with large brown eyes.

"You know who killed him, don't you?"

It was more of a statement than a question. I casually leaned back against the tree, plucking the nuts in my backpack into my mouth. "It's likely," was all I replied. "Are you scared of them?"

She didn't respond. I could see her being scared of Clove, what sniveling little tribute wouldn't be? But Marvel… questionable. The only time he could ever be frightening was with a spear, and even then he looked like a lanky, drunk idiot. The girl only shifted further in her tree, her eyes slightly squinting down at me.

"I was afraid of you."

I stared back at her. "It's understandable why you would be."

"I saw you in the training room," she spilled, inching further out into the open. "I saw the way you cut down the dummies and fought with the other tributes. My district partner, Thresh, he… he told me to stay away from you if I wanted to survive."

My left eyebrow rose. I was curious about how much more she knew about the mysterious, huge guy from her district, but I left that at the bottom of my priorities. "Sounds like a smart guy," I finally said. It sounded like she wanted me to assure her that I wasn't going to kill her, but how could I promise such a thing? I was in an _arena_. Killing was second nature.

"I don't think you're as bad as he says," she fumbled with her jacket strings, slowly looking up to meet my stunned gaze. "I mean… you say a lot of bad words and, well… sometimes you look really mean, but…" she faltered off when she saw my expression.

I didn't want her to cower before me every time we spoke, but this kid was getting the wrong idea. "You know nothing about me, kid," I told her darkly. "I've killed many tributes in this game. If you were wise, you would distance yourself as far away as possible. You could get hurt."

"I know," she suddenly quipped back. "I… I already know. Are you going to kill me once you've regained your strength?"

I watched her thoughtfully. All circumstances aside, I honestly didn't_ want_ to kill her. I wasn't above killing children, but she seemed too young to be slaughtered. There was something wrong about her. She reminded me too much of my sister, and she was twice her age. "So far you've been useful to me," I told her, crumpling up the nut bag with my big hands. "You've helped me take out those stupid stingers, and you're looking out for her for me." I motioned to Katniss with my head. "For the time being, I don't have a reason to kill you."

"What about the leaves I gave you?" her tone was nonchalant, despite the ugly subject we were talking about. "The ones that saved your life?"

I stopped chewing, and squinted at her. "The life for a life code doesn't work in these structures, kid. No one in here has sympathy for others. There's just not enough room for that. Every single person is after one goal, and that's survival. You can't rely on good hearted messages and prayers to get your way around here."

The girl shifted, staring down at her shoes while she traced the bark designs in the trees. "Does that mean you wish I hadn't saved you?"

I clamped my mouth shut in a hard line. I didn't like having my life saved by someone else, much less a little kid, but I supposed it was true. I should've been happy I had help. "I'm just saying," I corrected. "I wouldn't have done the same thing if our positions were switched. Neither would anybody else."

She gazed at me. "You think it was wrong?"

I gazed back. "It was unexpected," was all I could say.

She tenderly crawled out of the tree, landing like a bird in her small boots. Her dark curls bounced lightly as she scampered closer to me, sitting down a few yards away. I studied her carefully, frowning to myself.

"Your name's Cato, right?" she finally asked.

I nodded.

"I'm Rue," she peered up at me with her large, brown eyes.

I continued frowning. "Let's not get on first name basis. It's better for everyone if we remain as numbers instead of people."

"Why?" she seemed confused.

"It just is," I said. "That's all we are to anybody outside this arena, anyway."

I didn't know where that came from, but I didn't bother pondering what I said anymore. Rue just lowered her head and started piling up the used leaves, silence flooding the atmosphere. I sighed heavily, and reluctantly tossed her a bag of remaining berries and nuts in one of my backpack pockets.

She looked up at me in shock.

"Take it all," I told her, and roughly stood up. "I'm going to go find some water."

"I…." she faltered. "I can have _all_ of it?"

Did she seriously say _all of it_? There was barely anything in there. "Um… yeah, it's all yours. The berries taste like crap, but whatever. You might like them."

Then, I walked off, strapping in one of my largest swords with me just in case I ran into some kind of mutation. From what I remembered, the water wasn't far from Katniss's tree, and the tracker jacker hive would locate which tree was hers. I stumbled forward, biting through the agonizing pain as I searched every tall tree with knots in it. One of these had to be familiar. One of them had to be _the_ tree.

My search turned out to be a fail for the first half an hour, and I finally convinced myself I was going to wrong way altogether. Cursing, I backtracked and went another random direction, waiting for any familiar sight to plop out of the bloom. I _needed_ water. Even if the Gamemakers had to scare another tribute in my direction to slaughter- I'd do it. I'd do practically anything for water at this point.

Luckily, my search ended when I heard a creek in the distance. It wasn't the one I jumped into with Clove and Marvel, but it was water never the less, and I quickly searched my backpack for a water bottle of some kind. Unfortunately, the only thing I could find was a tiny flask that barely held anything. This was going to be a problem. Especially if I ever got thirsty again or if the kid needed some.

I sighed, and filled it never the less. When I got back to the Careers, it wouldn't matter anymore. I'd just have to hang tight for a couple days until the stings went down, and I was definitely capable of doing so.

On my way back to the fort, I lugged a couple of decent sized logs for the fire tonight. It didn't matter if Clove and Marvel were gone, nobody would attack me anyway. Too many tributes were eliminated; there probably wasn't anyone for miles.

However, my aloof attitude completely toppled over when I came into view of Rue, and someone sitting up next to her.

Katniss was awake.

* * *

><p>They were discussing something I couldn't hear, most likely the tracker jacker stings by the way they were motioning towards them with their hands. Her back was to me, but I could see how messy her braid had become, strands of dark hair falling out in all directions. A slow, bleak grin erupted from the edges of my lips as I neared closer. About time she woke up.<p>

A twig snapped from under my foot.

Katniss whirled around at the sound, and before I could make another move, she had a silver arrow already ledged into her bow, pointed directly at me. I could see her eyes burning with hate. "Rue, get behind me."

Even the girl didn't know how to respond.

"Whoa there, sweetheart," I smirked, as I dropped the logs behind me and held my palms in the air. "Don't shoot- I'm unarmed."

"Really," her voice dripped with sarcastic venom.

I laughed, flashing her my teeth. "You've been out for a while, and yet you're as enthusiastic as when I last saw you awake."

She stood up then, her face written with anger, the arrow still poised directly at my head. "You shouldn't have come here. I warned you to stay the hell away from me- now it's going to cost you with an arrow through your skull."

I sneered. "Dearest Katniss, while your words do truly make me tremble, I am merely here to get my stings healed, nothing more."

Katniss slowly looked back down at Rue, who nodded sheepishly in confirmation. Still, she didn't lower her arrow. "So you're taking advantage of a twelve year old girl to save your own skin, how noble of you."

"If I remember correctly, I wasn't the one who dropped the nest," I looked at her squarely. "Therefore, it makes sense I would do everything I could to heal them."

"I would've rotted in that tree otherwise," she spat back.

"You didn't have to," I pointed out, a low grin creeping up. "We offered you to come down."

"I already_ said_…" she declared loudly. "I'd rather die than become any part of you or your friend's sick fantasies."

I chuckled darkly, and casually started piling up some wood for the fire. "Watch your language there, twelve. We're in the presence of a twelve year old." Rue watched us with hesitant eyes.

Katniss was erupting with fury. "Don't you _dare_ point this back at me! Especially after everything _you've_ done!"

"And what have I done, Katniss? Pray tell! Tell us all," I spread my arms wide, motioning towards the entire arena. "What exactly have I done to spark the girl on fire so _malevolently_?"

The arena stayed silent, even though a thousand different words seemed to be going through Katniss's head. For a split second, she truly looked dangerous. She truly wanted to kill me. I could see it in her eyes, her proud stance. She had the weapon, and I didn't. One release and I'd be cold and dead, and she'd never have to worry about me again. I couldn't understand why I was acting so nonchalant while my life was in her hands. Somehow, being at the other end of the weapon made everything all the more erotic.

"I'm going to get more leaves," Rue's tiny, and child-like voice suddenly spoke. "Please don't kill each other while I'm gone."

I smirked. "You heard the kid."

"You make one more advance," she lowered the bow, giving me the most malevolent look. "You're dead."

"I look forward to it."

* * *

><p>Night descended across the arena. It was not yet completely dark, but the forest was sinking further and further into the shadows, the skies vacant of any moonlight. Any sound regarding the life of the night was overridden by the crackles of the fire I had put together.<p>

Katniss left Glimmer's bow and arrows right beside her for rest of the day, refusing to abandon them. She sat against the tree while she redid her braid, intentionally avoiding any glance I cast in her direction. Damn, she was a stubborn thing. I could practically feel the discomfort radiating off her small figure.

Rue was still gone by the time I started making the fire. I really didn't have a problem with her absence, if anything, it was a good thing I had time alone with Katniss. But I could tell it bothered the girl on fire beyond belief, which kind of confused me. There _was_ something going on between the two of them. Some sort of truce, or alliance. Something I really shouldn't have cared so much about.

"What are you playing at?"

The words were sharp, and I automatically fixed my attention above the fire, towards the most difficult, fiery tribute from District 12. "I have no idea what you're talking about, _Katniss_," I sneered, flashing a playful grin.

"I'm talking about Rue," she shot back. "Why are you making her help you?"

"I'm not making her do anything," I said honestly. "She wanted to help me, just as she did to you."

"And you'd accept help from a twelve year old?"

"You did the same."

"Yeah, I did," her eyes narrowed. "I just didn't think someone from such a district would find it acceptable to want help from others. I thought it was _improper_." Her words stung. "Especially since you probably had all the medicine in the backpacks you lugged around."

"So this is your view on my district," I tossed another piece of wood into the heart of the flames, and sat down on the opposite side of the fire from her. "That we're just a bunch of assholes who'd rather die than try to ask for help."

"I haven't seen a reason to prove it otherwise."

"While your theory is probably sound to some, _sweetheart,_ this is the arena. We'll do what we need to do for survival."

"Oh, yes," Katniss brought out a sarcastic smile. "Even if it includes _using_ a little girl and then killing her once you're done with her."

"I never said I'd do that," I retorted. "You don't know me as well as you think."

"And you know_ nothing_ about me."

We sat in silence, glowering at each other from across the flames. It seemed like every path I tried to take to get her to slip up always ended up in a dead end. She had literally locked and bolted every door to her heart, making it impossible for me to get through. How could I get to her? How did Lover Boy and the girl from 11 do it? What did it take to get under all that venom in her mind?

I forced my own mind to stay in the game. _Come on, man._

"I know that you're an impressive fighter," I watched her expression. "And that you've struggled. I know about the sister you volunteered for. I've watched all the reapings a billion times, mainly yours."

She raised her chin defiantly. "And what does it matter?"

"It doesn't," I simply said. "Well, it didn't the first couple times I watched it."

It was like a sign; I could almost hear the cameras zooming in on us, focusing on our conversation. This was the only path I really had left. The path that Lover Boy took, and the one I could never picture myself doing in a million years. Luckily, however, I was a quick learner.

"So now you're going to declare your long lost love for me?" she guessed, raising one perfect eyebrow. "Just like Peeta did?"

Perhaps I'd spark things up a bit. I slowly slid onto the earth, giving her a bleak smile as I lied down sideways. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" it wasn't much of a question. "Another suitor, another piece in your little game. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. I don't go after girls, I let them come to me instead."

Katniss shifted, her silver eyes ringing with triumph. "Like trapping them against bow racks?"

My teeth flashed through that next smile. "No, that was just a bit of fun, really. To see how tough my competition was." _Good, good_. Disappointing her. It was always the perfect way to get under girls' skin.

Her expression proved me otherwise. "And what about all your promises? The threats if you got your hands on me?"

"There's a kid coming back. That's the only reason that promise is on hold."

"Hmph," she didn't even flinch. "Too bad you'll be healed and gone by the time you remember anything. We'll be going our separate ways."

"What makes you thing I'll leave you two alone once I'm healed?" I raised an eyebrow, amusement in my tone. "What makes you think I won't kill you after I've recovered?"

"I've got my weapons as well," she motioned towards the arrows. "We'll be fine on our own."

"Gee, I don't know," I sat back up, flashing her my best look. "Without those, you both are quite helpless at my hands. I can kill just fine without weapons."

"These aren't going out of my sight," she assured.

"Even with them," I stepped in. "You could miss."

"I never miss."

"Never? Not once?"

"Not when I'm determined to kill something."

I wasn't sure if this was the truth, or if she was just doing this to spark up the audience in the Capitol. Either way, I decided to play along. "And do you really want to kill me, Katniss?" I purred darkly, studying her every move. "Do you really want me gone?"

"Yes," there was no hesitation. "I do."

We stared at each other. And for a moment, neither of us could describe the feeling. Perhaps it was meant to remain an enigma.

And then, without warning, I leapt forward, over the flames and directly towards the prey. She processed my movements too slow, again, and only managed to grab onto an arrow by the time I had her trapped against the tree stump, vulnerable and helpless. One of my hands gripped the trunk under her right arm, while she held around it for dear life, her back pressed deeply into the bark. Her legs automatically rolled up to her chest, the only thing truly separating us.

For several seconds she struggled to control her breathing, and our gaze. She finally spoke after she got herself together. "I thought you were bored of this game."

"Ah, _Katniss_," I made her name roll. "I never tire of these games."

I could practically see the smile on President Snow's lips. He ought to have been impressed with my guts for doing such a thing on live television. Katniss shifted uncomfortably against the tree, her back slightly arching to gain her face more distance. "I still have the arrow," she murmured heavily, trying to keep up with my intensity. "It could still hurt you."

"Yes, it's very frightening," I murmured back huskily. She flinched when our fingers brushed, my own beginning to wrap around the slim metal of the arrow. She held onto the weapon for dear life, her knuckles whitening. I slowly traveled to a free part of the arrow and slightly tried to ease it out of her grasp. Her grip didn't ease.

"Give it to me, Katniss," I breathed.

She didn't answer. Instead, she shifted further away, tearing the metal weapon out of my fingertips. I grinned to myself. _Yes_, she was _definitely_ getting uncomfortable now.

One of my hands snaked over her own, but she was too stubborn to show any weakness by pulling back. I let the friction build, feeling her own smooth skin against my own- the tension growing warm. My fingers slowly tangled into hers, unwrapping her hold on the weapon, and for once, she didn't resist.

The arrow was mine.

And she was defenseless.

But before I could make another move, footsteps could be heard in the distance, snapping on weak twigs and old leaves. Katniss pushed me away and wriggled out of my grip the second I was distracted, and she jumped to the other side of the fire for safety. I sighed, and let my forehead fall against the tree in defeat. _I was so close._

Rue stepped out from behind the bushes, her small hands filled with leaves. "I got lost," she explained quietly, blushing slightly. Katniss gave her a small smile while I continued watching her.

"I'm glad you got back okay," Katniss told her.

Rue smiled. "Here, let me change your leaves."

"Alright," The girl on fire strolled back to my tree, passing me to retrieve her weapons. While she was gathering them, however, she softly hissed in my direction. "Don't you dare touch me again."

I flashed her a wicked smile. "No promises, sweetheart."

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys, I know I haven't updated in a while, but it's because of my book I'm working on to eventually publish, so FF can't be my first priority right now. Anyways, hoped you liked the long chapter and I'd love some reviews! ^^<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the delay guys. Lots of stuff going on, I'll let you know at the end of the chapter :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

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><p>Of all the times I could've gotten a sponsor gift, it had to be in the middle of the night, when I was finally getting a full night of rest.<p>

The parachute's song was too soft to wake me, but the hard clang it made when it hit the tree stump did the trick. My eyes angrily fluttered opened and I groaned, rubbing my eyes with the back of my knuckle.

A slow, layer of smoke danced over the blackened ashes of the once powerful campfire, and the atmosphere was clouded with moisture. My neck was sore from the way it was positioned on the trunk, and my ankles were still crossed from when I last remembered being awake. I stretched my arms and started for the parachute until I noticed something unexpected, something unbelievably saint-like.

The girl across the ashes was no longer sitting up.

Katniss had fallen asleep.

The irritation for the sponsor's timing washed away instantly, and a small smile crept to the corners of my lips. That damned girl was fooling herself saying she'd rather die than trust me with keeping guard. Fatigue always won. I tried to tell her that the other night, after Rue had fallen asleep on her lap and the deep circles under her eyes were visible.

"Why don't you sleep?" I had suggested casually.

She scowled at me. "Oh, so you can murder us and go on your merry way?"

I laughed. "A tempting offer, but too inconvenient for me. Just go to sleep, I'll keep watch for the next couple hours."

She continued scowling. "I'd rather die."

"You say that so often," I pointed out. "I'm surprised you haven't gone through with it by this point."

"I don't exactly _favor _being around you."

"Maybe not," I backfired. "But everyone knows you secretly yearn for me."

She scoffed loudly. "Don't insult me."

"I'm not. I'm just reading what is."

"And you wonder why I don't want you keeping guard," she said back haughtily, turning her disgusted gaze away and back to Rue, gently stroking her curly hair. "Besides, I'm not tired. I've been asleep for days, I could stay awake all night."

"I'm sure you could," I smiled. "And I'm sure you can't wait until I'm asleep so you can check me out all night."

"Don't flatter yourself," she stuck back. "I'm not interested."

"Oh, but you like the puny, blonde ones?" My eyebrows rose. "You like the little boys with no value, the sad little suck-ups? Tell me, Katniss, how does it feel to be in love with a boy that even_ you_ could beat up?"

Her eyebrows narrowed dangerously. "Keep Peeta out of this."

"Why should I? He's the only thing separating us."

"Separating _us_?" Her expression whirled with disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."

I smiled wickedly at her. Her fiery passion went rocky under my powers of charm. "Oh, sweetheart. Don't try to fight it, it only slows down the process."

The rest of the conversation had been foggy, although I remembered Katniss making it quite clear she wasn't going to sleep while I took watch. She must have gotten tired after all that wall building, all those strong barriers she was forced to keep up. She didn't want to crack, but I was getting her in my fingertips. It was only a matter of time before she finally broke, and I had her for my trophy.

Through the thick darkness, I studied the two sleeping girls, waiting for any sign of movement before I continued to the sponsor gift. Rue was in the exact position she had fallen asleep, a peaceful smile upon her lips. Cascades of unorganized, dark ringlets fell over her face, and down her neck. The girl on fire slept beside her, her head resting on her right elbow.

_Poor Katniss_, I mused. She was going to have a rough time in the morning when I mentioned I noticed her sleeping. She'd be furious with herself, and I was going to enjoy every bit of it.

I reached for the silver container and popped it open, digging out the prize at the bottom half. A smaller, darker container revealed itself, along with a note at the floor. I automatically twisted the cap and found myself staring at the contents dumbly.

Medicine.

It could've been something else entirely; it could've been some mushy food from the Capitol. But I could already tell it wasn't. The smell was thick and bitterly strong, too odoriferous to be anything near edible.

And at that exact moment, I understood everything.

Why it was sent in the middle of the night when both Katniss and Rue were asleep, why I hadn't gotten it the second after I got my stings. President Snow wanted to help me drag things out, along with the rest of the Capitol. They all wanted to see how the poorest districts and I would interact.

And now I had the medicine for my stings. I had the key out of this mess.

I placed the medicine at my side while I read the note.

_You have done well. The rest is up to you._

_- S_

I stared at it.

Was it terror or relief that washed through me? I couldn't tell. They felt one in the same.

I was off the hook.

All that work, and all that worrying. It had finally paid off.

My family was safe. President Snow was finally satisfied with me. It was done.

I was free.

I automatically crumpled the note before anyone could notice me pondering on it. I stuffed it under the layers of black ash and leaned back against the tree, letting my mind take control of Snow's words. I could hardly believe any of it. I was now free to focus on winning and bringing honor to District 2. Just like the good old days.

But then my eyes found Katniss.

And the relief was replaced by hesitation.

Even though I had worked day and night to win her affections, it still didn't seem like enough. What had I done to make Snow let go of my chains so easily? It barely felt like I accomplished anything. Katniss still hated me. And even though I was getting under her skin, was that really enough?

Why was I even questioning it?

I cursed under my breath and shifted to a more comfortable position on the tree trunk. _Come on, man_, I thought bitterly. _You're done. You can kill them now; they have no more value._

They did have no more value.

So why was I still sitting there?

I reached for the backpack to dig out a couple snacks and get my brain moving. Perhaps the whole situation felt a bit too unresolved for my taste, like it would haunt my thoughts later on. I hated that feeling. I'd rather get something done and never have to worry about it again. And I was nowhere near done with Katniss. I was just getting started.

Snow didn't understand the concept of Katniss like I did. He didn't understand that she needed work done on her to properly crack her open. He didn't know her like I did.

And that's why I couldn't let this go.

I wanted a resolution for my own benefit, not Snow's._ I _wanted to break Katniss. _I_ wanted to see this to the end; the day she'd finally admit she wanted me instead of her puny little lover.

And he'd be dead soon, anyways. I knew where I stabbed him. He was a goner, and I was the only one to turn to.

Making up my mind, I screwed the cap back over the medicine and plunged the container deep in the bottom of my backpack, not even taking a finger's worth of ointment. The stings needed to stay unhealed. That was the only way to keep Katniss and Rue unsuspicious.

I looked up into the sky, right into the imaginary eyes of President Snow.

"I've got to finish this."

There was no reply, but I knew he got the message. I hoped with everything I had in me that he'd understand what I wanted, and what must be done to ease my satisfaction.

* * *

><p>To my irritation, Katniss and Rue were both well up and awake by the time I stirred back to life. The little agriculture tribute was poking at the fresh morning campfire with a log, making sure it stayed healthy and alive.<p>

I groaned as I rubbed my temples with my hand. "Kill the fire, kid. It's morning."

"I know," she piped up. "But Katniss told me to make it. She's hunting."

"And she decided to leave you here by yourself?"

"Well…" she looked at me. "You're here."

"Huh," I muttered, standing up and stretching my arms. "So the girl on fire finally trusts me. Thought this day would never come."

"No, I don't think she trusts you," Rue smiled. "She just has no choice but to leave me here, since I'd probably scare away all the animals."

I should've figured. "Anyone die while I was crashing?" I asked her.

She shook her head.

"Lame," I muttered, and slung my sword over my shoulder. "I'm going back to get some water. Think you can manage the fort?"

"I'll be okay."

"Good. See you 'round, kid."

I backtracked my steps from yesterday, slashing annoying plants that were in my way. It was surprising the Gamemakers weren't trying to pluck more people off. That puny boy from District 12 still needed to be wiped out before I had to track him down a second time. And where were the killer mutations and crazy wildfires?

They must have really wanted the audience focusing on the love triangle.

I swatted a couple bugs with my sword as I neared the sound of water, the sun streaking through the branches. My attention nearly froze when I noticed a figure down by the creek.

Another tribute?

Sitting there, waiting to be killed?

Hell yes. Maybe this was going to be a good day after all.

But I lowered my weapon when I noticed the figure's long, brown braid. It was only Katniss, and even though I was now free to, she could not be killed.

I strutted over the plants, and positioned the blade back over my shoulder. Katniss was perched over the river as if she were trying to get a better view of something, a silver arrow held in her grip. Then, very slowly, she started to inch out her bow and positioned the arrow inside, arching her back as she stood. I remained where I was, and watched.

Whatever animal she had spotted must had scampered off, because she suddenly lowered her weapon and muttered something I couldn't hear.

"Morning, sweetness," I smirked, stepping over the logs to where she stood. "Sleep well?"

She looked up at me, and whatever anger she had seemed to double. "Oh, shut up," she bent down to retrieve the rest of her arrows. "At least I didn't fall asleep first. And what the hell were you doing watching me sleep, anyway?"

"Hey, those bird mutations were loud," I lied. "And I'm not a heavy sleeper. Otherwise I'd be the one rotting rather than Glimmer and that other girl."

"Other girl?" she raised an eyebrow. "You had an alliance with her, and you didn't even know her name?"

"I forgot it," I said. "It wasn't important."

She scoffed and went back to organizing her arrows. I picked out a nice, large boulder near the side of the creek and leaned against it, crossing my arms while examining her progress. "So I've been thinking," I started. "Since we can both move our legs again, and we're both handy with our weapons, why don't we go scout out and try to crack some skulls today? The kid can come too, if she wants."

Katniss just looked at me, blankly. "You want _us_ to go kill people with you."

"Hey, kill or be killed, sweetheart," I sneered. "That's the motto. Which one would you rather do?"

She crossed her arms. "Gee, you know, they're just both so much fun, it's hard to pick."

"You have to at least consider what I'm offering," I retorted. "You and me are a team, Katniss. I could use someone like you. The two of us… we can take down any other tribute in this arena. That includes Clove and Marvel. I'm dead serious."

She glowered. "I'm not going on a killing spree with you, Cato. And neither is Rue."

I smiled wickedly, loving how we were getting on first name basis. "Then maybe you'd be interested in helping me get rid of the remaining Careers. It's an offer not even you can refuse."

Katniss slung her bow over her shoulder and shifted her weight on one leg. "I don't believe you," she said without questioning. "It's a set up."

"What?" I jeered, holding up my hands. "Nah, I haven't been with them for days- when would I possibly have the time to make a sneak attack on you two?"

"I don't know, but I still don't trust you," she responded evenly. "Besides, why would you turn on your own allies?"

"I'd say it's about that time I started knocking them off the chart," I said casually. "They obviously don't give a damn about the alliance- otherwise they would've found me by now. And if they aren't my allies, what's stopping me from getting rid of them?"

"Well, _we _aren't allies, yet here we are."

"I have an alliance with 11," I said back. "And she has an alliance with you. Therefore, we _are_ allies. And you should be thankful, I'm a pretty valuable player when it comes to killing off other tributes."

"I'm sure you are," she started back into the forest, and I followed. "But I'm not putting Rue through this. She's already scared enough; I don't want her to have to kill someone when she doesn't have to."

"This isn't just about her, Katniss," I pulled her back. "This involves you, too. And me. You really don't think Clove or Marvel will be hunting us down, sooner or later? I've been one of them before. I know how they work. And unless the Gamemakers come up with another crazy idea to drive us together, they'll come after you, and her."

She fidgeted uncomfortably under my gaze, and I could tell my words were getting to her. It was true, though. They might spare me, but they definitely wouldn't hesitate to kill her and the girl from 11. They were roast. And I'd have no power to protect them.

"You think about it," I muttered, and I started back over to the creek to refill my flask.

* * *

><p>When I returned, Katniss and Rue were finishing off whatever kill she snagged when I was away. The little girl from 11 bit into the meat heartily, her eyes rolling with satisfaction as she chewed. If Katniss ate anything, she had already finished and was starting to stomp out the campfire.<p>

"So," I stepped in, tossing the sword against the base of the tree. "Did you tell her, yet?"

Katniss scowled at me.

"Obviously not," I noted.

"Tell me what?" Rue asked innocently, frowning.

"Nothing," Katniss said quickly. "Its not important."

I cocked my head slightly to the left as I examined her. "Not important?" I murmured. "You don't want to feel safe for once, knowing some of the deadliest tributes won't be coming for you in your sleep?"

"I'm not going after anybody if I don't have to," Katniss declared.

"I'm sure," I said. "Of course, that kind of attitude is going to get you slaughtered. You haven't _once_ thought how much we could benefit from it?"

"How it could benefit _you_," Katniss corrected coldly. "Yes, I did think about it. I even considered it, too, until I realized this was all going to be some big scandal in the end. You can't kill the other two on your own, so you're trying to use _me _to save your own skin."

I nearly laughed at the ridiculousness of her comment. "Have you _seen _me, sweetness?"

She decided to take her anger out on the remaining sparks rather than answer me. I knew she wasn't going to respond to any more of my questions if I kept pressing the Clove and Marvel ambush. What a shame. Looked like the only way to get her attention was to start the charm talk with Rue present.

"I'll tell you what," I rested on my hands on the hilt of my other sword. "If you come with me, you can be my girlfriend for a day. How does that sound?"

Rue coughed to hide her snigger. I watched Katniss's face erupt into several different violent emotions. "Not if my life depended on it," she muttered darkly.

"Ouch," I slouched off my sword. "Then what can I do to change your mind, princess?"

"You can't," Katniss said. "So I suggest you stop trying before you push me over the edge and end up with an arrow in your chest."

Lovely. So Katniss was already in a bad mood. "What about you, kid?" I gestured to Rue, who seemed surprised by the sudden attention. "What do you think? Would you rather kill or be killed?"

"Well…" she started in her small, child voice. "I guess your idea _does_ makes sense…"

"There, see?" I turned back to the flaming girl. "Even the kid knows I'm right."

Katniss ignored me. "Rue, I know you want to get rid of them as much as I do," she said reasonably. "But his way isn't a good idea. Trust me."

The little girl from 11 slowly stood up and led her a few steps away, speaking in a hushed whisper. Awesome. Katniss hardly ever said no to Rue, and I didn't have to do anymore convincing. Rue was going to persuade her on her own.

When they returned, Katniss was still scowling. Probably because her argument sucked compared to mine. "Fine," she told me icily. "But you're going first. And if your life is in danger- don't rely on me for help. I am only going for my benefit and Rue's."

I looked down at her, smiling ever so cockily. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

><p>As planned, both girls trailed behind me, keeping up with my pace as best they could. Katniss had her bow and arrows ready as we scampered through the forest floor, and my sword was strapped to my belt. If any trouble came along, I could swing it out in a flash and cut down anything in my path.<p>

If only I were so lucky.

With every stride, I secretly hoped to run into another stupid tribute and warm up for the battle against the idiot and the knife thrower. But our path went unflawed, and no sounds of footsteps outside our own were heard. And the only thing that really slowed us down was Rue's inability to keep up with my easy pace.

When footsteps behind me faltered, I slowed and watched Rue hold her stomach as Katniss helped her catch her breath.

"Come on,_ ladies_," I said sarcastically. "We don't have all the daylight in the world."

"Maybe if you weren't _sprinting_, we wouldn't have this problem," Katniss snapped back. By her voice, I could tell she was a little winded herself. I must have forgotten these districts didn't have to run the mountains every morning like I did back in the training camps. If you couldn't make the mountains, then you were pretty much just as useless as an outlier district. That was always the way it was.

"We'll walk the rest," I decided, not even breaking a sweat. "We're almost there, anyway."

"You never told us where we were going."

"I didn't think I had to," I said back. "It's too obvious. Why would Clove and Marvel be out camping in the woods when they could have all their crap at the Cornucopia?"

Katniss seemed to understand. If I knew those two idiots, they would be sitting on their asses inside the mouth and guarding their supplies like dogs. With so few numbers, it wasn't wise to go on full day hunting trips anymore. They'd wait for the idiots to come to them, instead.

When the clearing was visible up ahead, I motioned the outliers to follow me, and took a scenic route through the tallest plants that had a good view of the Cornucopia. Our movements luckily went silent, and I waved them down when I peered into a hole through the large bushes.

The first thing I noticed was the astonishingly large stack of supplies piled in some sort of giant pyramid next to the horn. I automatically pushed some of the leaves out of the way to get a better look. What the hell was this?

Two figures stood near the other side of the clearing, next to the pedestals the tributes had taken off on the first day. At first, I thought it was both Marvel and Clove standing together from the height differences, but then I recognized the smaller figure to be bulkier and masculine, with a different jacket color. I frowned deeper. Since when did Marvel and Clove like letting weak, little tributes into their group? I must have missed something.

Marvel wiped his arm across his sweaty brow, and shoved a shovel into the little boy's hands as he headed towards the Cornucopia. I instantly spotted the little devil queen resting inside the mouth, lazily flipping a dagger through her fingers.

"Where's that blanket?" I heard Marvel ask her.

Clove didn't even acknowledge him. "Don't know."

"Well, I'm going down to the lake," he said, heading out of the mouth with a blue blanket hung over his shoulder. "The heat's killing me."

"Maybe you're just out of shape," she gave him a fake smile.

"You're funny," he didn't sound amused. "I'll be back in fifteen. Alert me if you see someone."

"You'll hear the cannon."

Marvel squinted. "Fine. I'm going to rinse off," He trampled in the other direction. "Don't look!"

"Don't worry."

Katniss peered around the leaves and watched Marvel disappear into the woods. She automatically looked to me for instruction.

"Come on," I whispered, and slipped into a row of trees to make a good cover. Both girls followed as quietly as they could, and Clove remained clueless of our presence as we slipped under her nose and after the tallest idiot.

He wasn't hard to find. He made a huge splash the second we neared the shore of the lake, and we could all see the violent white ripples chasing after the calmness. I motioned the two of them to kneel behind a bush as I tried to get a better look. An abandoned pair of combat boots, pants, and tribute jacket lay scattered near the stones of the shore.

Marvel's head burst out from the water, his hands slicking back his drenched hair as his shirt clung to his weak muscles. Katniss made some sort of disapproving sound behind me.

"Wow," she said. "Can't even go a few days without a bath."

"Now you know what I had to deal with," I told her, and looked back at all the crap on the stones. "He brought a spear, though. Maybe he wasn't being entirely brainless."

"He doesn't have it with him," Katniss pointed out. "He'd have to swim back another twenty feet."

"Good observation," I noted.

"He should've kept on his pants," Rue's nose wrinkled. "All the Capitol people will see."

"Not if we get rid of him," Katniss bit out.

I was too wrapped into my own evil master plans to hear the rest of their conservation. This scene was all too familiar, back at home. It was suicide to leave your clothes out of your reach in the locker rooms, because there would always be someone who would snag them. I remembered the multiple victims the four of us got, the best and funniest days of my life. It brought a grin to my face just thinking about it.

The whine of the bow stretching brought me out of my thoughts, just to notice how concentrated Katniss's gaze settled on Marvel, an arrow poised directly for his head. Rue sat behind her, covering her ears as she looked away.

"No, no," I said disapprovingly, resting a hand on her weapon and lowering it. "You can't shoot him when he's in sitting blissfully in his bubble bath. That's far too a good of a death for him."

Katniss glared at me, but lowered the bow for me. "I'm sorry," she said icily. "I didn't know we cared about _how_ we were getting rid of them."

"We can do better than that," was all I said. "We can drag it out."

Rue was still covering her ears when I turned around, her eyes squeezed together. Katniss gave me a wild stare. "We don't _need_ to drag it out!" she murmured firmly. "Look at her, she's terrified! She doesn't want to see him die!"

"She's going to see people die, Katniss," I said reasonably. "So I'd stop all the motherly crap, now. She's not your little sister, and she's not mine, either. You can't protect her from everything." Katniss was deathly silent afterwards, and I turned around to continue on. "Besides, Marvel isn't going to be killed today. I have something in mind to make his fate ten times worse."

"You are_ not_ cutting off his arms and legs in front of me."

I laughed quietly. "Now_ that_ would be a satisfying scene. No, have you ever even had the let down on District 1? If you did, you'd know they think any type of _nudity _is extremely disrespectful. Even the homeless in that district are clothed…"

Katniss frowned. "So…?"

I let my wicked smile be her understanding. She cautiously glanced at the abandoned clothes and weapon and instantly understood, letting her expression be her reaction. "You're insane," was all she could say.

"Wait here," I started sneaking down the hill.

"I thought you dragged us here to make sure we didn't have to worry about them hunting us!" she bantered after me. "Not to… mess around!"

"I'm in a death arena, sweetheart," I spread my arms as I descended. "What can I say?"

Marvel was about finished when I reached the shore. The second his head was directed the other way, I tossed the abandoned jacket and pants over my shoulder and headed back up the hummock. I didn't get far, however. The awkward responses from the stones I stepped on automatically made Marvel turn my way.

"Cato?" he said, disbelievingly.

I caught Katniss's eye through the bush before I turned around.

"Dude! Where have you been, man?" Marvel rinsed out his shirt even as he was waist down in water. "Clove and I… we looked for you, but you vanished! We were beginning to think the stings killed you off."

I smirked as I crossed my arms. "It'll take a lot more than a couple bug bites to kill me off."

"So I see," Marvel_ still_ hadn't noticed I had his clothes. "Man, Clove is going to be happy to see you! Thank God, too. She's been ranting on me since the day you, Glimmer, and Zora left. I'm in need of a break from it."

"Hm," I murmured, grabbing his spear and poking the tip with my finger. "That's rough, buddy. But it's your own damn fault for not killing her in her sleep."

"She still has a few useful runs left in her," Marvel explained. "And y_ou_ can be the one to flatten out her bitchiness when we get back." He gave his face one last wash. "So where have you been? Swinging in trees, singing to animals?"

"Something like that," I said for the cameras. "I've had some interesting company."

"Huh," he started out of the lake. "Well, you can tell me all about it back to the Cornucopia. And get your hands off my shit, man," he motioned to the spear in my hands. "That's my favorite weapon."

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to take it for the keeping," I flashed him a sinister look. "So you won't throw it after me when I'm running off."

"What…?" he started, but I could see the realization flooding through his senses as he noticed the clothes over my shoulder, and my legs start up the hill. His eyebrows narrowed dangerously low. "Oh, hell no. Cato, you get your ass back here, and-"

"Sorry, man," I spread my arms. "The Capitol needs entertainment."

He bit out a couple a nasty curses, and I only laughed at him. "You're free to chase after me if you want."

"You _ugly, son of a_-"

"Hey, you know, maybe Clove can help you find another pair of pants," I suggested casually. "I'm sure she'd love that."

Marvel wobbled out of the water in his boxers, and it wasn't a pretty sight. He tried his best to cover himself while his other hand weakly tried to find the blanket, before he realized I had snagged that as well. He growled under his breath, his entire face flushing with bright red. "Cato, I swear to God-"

"I left you your boots," I snickered down at him. "You're free to come after me."

He struggled to find his shoes, wobbling like a dying animal as he searched. He finally tripped over his own awkward legs and he cursed loudly, his face just burning with hate. Rue laughed from behind me. It was a sweet, childish sound to my ears.

"Go, go," I ordered them as I neared their hiding spot. But before they both turned around, and scurried away, I saw it. It was gone in a flash, but I saw it. I was certain of it.

Katniss's smile.

"CATO!" Marvel screamed after me, still in a broken mess on the shore.

"Later, sunshine!" I waved down.

He flipped me off in return.

"Come on, let's get out of here," I said, and the three of us all made our way back into the woods. Katniss held a faster pace, continuously glancing behind.

"We need to move," she urged. "They'll be after us."

"Nah," I shook my head. "Marvel's going to take at least two hours trying to get back to the Cornucopia, and Clove's going to give him hell when he does. We got all the time in the world."

She fidgeted, packing the unused arrow back with the others. "We should have killed him."

"Oh, sweetheart, do _not _pretend like you weren't having the time of your life," I grinned at her. "I think that beats anything you've seen in the arena for the last seventy four years. Like I said, there are much more elaborate ways to take down a victim than letting them drown in their own blood. Much more entertaining ways."

"You just made things more difficult," she merely argued back. "Now they're going to be hunting us, and they're going to be out for blood. Mainly, yours."

I scoffed. "They aren't coming after us tonight." I turned to the bright child of eleven. "What about you, kid? Didn't you have a good time?"

She nodded cheerfully. "He looked so stupid!"

"He's always been stupid," I told her. "What are you talking about?"

Halfway through our destination, I buried Marvel's crap under a bush and got rid of any evidence that alerted them that we'd been there. Katniss and Rue went ahead to hunt for dinner, and I broke off the sharp part of Marvel's spear for an extra weapon. I stared at it thoughtfully, replaying every scene back at the lake.

Marvel had seen Katniss and Rue.

That was the one negative thing about my little stunt. I should've thought it through better, I should've made them hide farther up the hill. But then again, if they were any higher, they wouldn't have seen Marvel, and it would've defeated my whole purpose of doing it.

To make Katniss laugh.

I had been surprisingly close. I saw her smile. I _saw_ it. Katniss wasn't entirely heartless. She did have somewhat of a humorous side, even if it was a slim one. _Yes_. Her heart was _so_ going to be mine in a few days time.

The two of them found a resting spot next to a water source when I returned. Rue was drinking from it heartily, while Katniss turned her kill over the fire. I dropped my weapons on the earth and lounged next to her, staring into the heart of the flames.

Surprisingly, Katniss was the first to speak. "I suppose I should thank you for today," she said reluctantly. "Rue had a good time. Maybe the only time she's ever going to enjoy herself in here."

Damn. I really had scored today- Katniss was _thanking_ me. "She's a good kid," I nodded to her small figure hunched over the creek.

Katniss nodded once in agreement. "It's just sad she has to be in here with us."

"It's unfortunate," I responded.

Katniss removed the cooked animal, and cut partly into its skin to check if it was done. She sighed, and placed it back over the flames. "I didn't think you were the type of person who had little sisters," she muttered, recalling earlier.

I smiled slightly. "Lot of people don't. Mine's six."

Katniss stared at me with wide eyes, the silver ringing. Her shock was obvious.

"My brother's a little older than her," I continued. "Nine years old. He's a lot like me. When I was his age, I was practically the top of my training camp. He's the same."

Katniss scoffed. "That wouldn't surprise me."

I laughed at her. "Why? Because I'm so ridiculously badass?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't start. I've heard enough of the bragging."

"Your loss," I muttered. "So. What about you, princess? Your sister's twelve, right? What about your brother- the guy who dragged her away at the reaping?"

Katniss seemed flustered. "He's not my brother. He's a friend."

I frowned. "A friend? Not anything intimate, I hope."

She glared at me. "It's none of your business, anyway."

"Hell yes it is," I backfired. "I need to make sure you're not cheating on me, otherwise I'm going to catch a hovercraft and ride to District 12 with a crowbar!"

She smiled briefly, and it was probably the most enchanting thing I'd seen. She stared at her lap and shook her head. "You're hopeless," she said.

"I'm_ pumped_," I corrected, showing her my fists. "I'm ready to kick some ass!"

She just pushed me away. "Go get Rue for me."

The two of them happily ate their food while I sharpened my weapons against a tree, and listened to them joke about the Marvel's incident. Katniss smiled with her, and it took all my strength not to stare. How the hell did I ever think she was so average? She was painfully and cruelly mesmerizing; I was beginning to think I had seen a completely other girl in the training centers.

_Kill her_, a voice in the back of my head urged. _You think_ this_ is bad? It's going to get worse. And the only way you can stop it from further damaging your common sense is to get rid of her. Quick. Before it's too late._

It was already too damn late.

I forced my gaze back on my sword, and violently rubbed away a stain on the metal. I would _not_ be subjected to these stupid emotions. I never had to worry about it, and I definitely wasn't going to start now.

Once she stomped out the fire, she surprised me by dropping a cooked leg of the animal on my stomach. I frowned as she walked away. "What's this for?"

"Extra," she merely said. "You can have it."

"My, Katniss," I grinned after her. "You certainly have gone soft for me."

"You're coming with us to kill the two of them, tomorrow," was her excuse. "And we need you in good shape to do so."

"Whatever you say, sweetness."

The skies also surprised me that night when a series of parachutes were dropped in front of me. Rue's eyes widened in surprised. "Whoa! You got _seven_ of them!"

"Probably because of the awesome stunt I pulled on Mr. Marvel," I grinned, opening them and packing the extra food and supplies in my backpack.

It was only in the middle of the night, when I heard the whoosh of a dagger did the perfection of the day end.

* * *

><p>Katniss and Rue were calmly snuggled next to each other when my eyes bolted open, and I cautiously glanced at the weapon ledged inches from my face, deep into the bark of the tree. I gripped my handle and yanked it out, searching for the thrower. A dark pair of boots walked off.<p>

I sighed heavily, and stood. There was only one person who could throw a weapon that close to my face and make sure it didn't kill me.

I grabbed the head of Marvel's weapon and started after Clove, knowing somewhere deep in my chest that every laugh and every entertaining experience I had with Katniss and Rue was now only a figment of the past.

* * *

><p><strong>I am warning you now, this will be the last "happy" chapter of the book. From here on out, everything is going to get DARK.<strong>

**Anyways, about the delay, what can I say? I've started my junior year in high school, and it's just taken me a while to adjust with all the schoolwork. Also, I've had some pretty awful home life experiences. I just found out today that my dad's been having an affair with a woman since 2009, and I am so damn pissed at him... So. Yeah. Enough with my sob story...**

**Thank you for all your comforting and supportive reviews! I wouldn't be here without them! Next chapter coming soon :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

><p>The bushes were a pain to see through the darkness.<p>

Everywhere I stepped seemed to be some sort of tangling plant that reached for my ankles and willed them to trip over themselves. _Stupid nature_, I thought as I physically tugged a root off my boot. If it weren't for Clove's crunching footsteps up ahead, I would've lost her a long time ago.

The atmosphere was muggy, and a slow layer of fog hugged the ground. The Gamemakers always seemed to fit the weather with the situation, making it more suspenseful and eerie. I wouldn't have been surprised if they even helped Clove track the three of us down. This wouldn't be the first time they purposely tried to make a tribute's life hell.

Clove slowed down when we reached a small clearing with long, thick grass. She stood on the opposite side with her arms crossed and feet apart. Knives and daggers of every shape and size were tied in a black belt around her waist. Her expression was rigidly cold.

I stared back and got comfortable, rolling my jacket sleeves up to my elbows. Wherever this was going, I knew it best to be prepared before the fight broke out. No one could ever tell what Clove was going to do, especially in my situation. There were rarely any times she'd rather talk than lodge a knife into someone's throat.

I flipped out her curved dagger, waving it a couple times. "You almost left this behind," I chucked it across the clearing.

She caught it easily. "I know," she merely said, and tucked it in a vacant pouch in her belt.

A couple moments of silent tension dragged on.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring Marvel," I spoke, crossing my own arms. "Would've given you a better shot of killing me off."

"Cato," she said in a low voice. "You know the real reason why I came."

I smirked, and shifted my standing position. "So you've been missing me, huh? Damn, I never thought I'd see the day."

"Stop stalling me," she bit coldly. "You've let yourself go."

I automatically looked down at myself, and flashed her my huge arm muscles. "Does_ this_ look like I've myself go?"

"Stop," she repeated. "You know what I mean."

"Then spell it out for me, devil queen."

She scowled, and it wasn't a pretty one. "I don't need to spell it out. It's a question. What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm surviving," I rebounded. "Like everyone else is."

"No, you're not," she began walking towards me with fatal strides. "You've lost it. _Everything._ Everything we've learned in the camps, and everything we've trained for. You've completely changed your motive without even realizing it, and I didn't even have to see it the past couple of days to figure it out."

"Pray tell, then," I sneered down at her. "How have I changed my motive?"

"You tell me," she snapped back. "_You_ are the one who's been snuggling it up with the two weakest districts and playing stupid pranks for no reason."

My eyebrows narrowed, and I whispered so no cameras could overhear. "What are you bitching about? You _know_ why I've had to get close to her."

"Stop your muffling," she said scathingly. "Snow already knows that I know. And_ I_ already know he's given you the chance to kill them off, and you _didn't_! What the hell is wrong with you? Why aren't they dead yet?"

"They are still useful to me!" I stated back. "That's the only reason."

"Is it, Cato?" Clove muttered dangerously. "Or have you just gotten lost in your own game?"

I laughed then, because what she was suggesting was ridiculous. "You are _not _suggesting what I think you are."

"It's not a suggestion, Cato," she said. "It's the cold, hard truth."

"My actions around her are pure sport," I stated loudly. "You really think I wanted this crap to happen? You really think I wanted to be focused on this in the games when I volunteered? Do you?"

"Probably not at first," she said lightly. "But now, who knows."

Rage shook within my veins and I grabbed her by the arms, slamming her hard against the grassy plain. She looked slightly shaken by the impact, and I took advantage of it by kneeling down next to her "Don't you _dare_ assume something so ridiculous of me. I will literally _crush_ your skull in my hands if you say another word."

Clove gave me an ugly smile. "It angers you to know I'm right."

I made a move for her head but she flipped out one of her weapons, poising it for my neck. I stopped the advance, but glared at her with all the hatred and anger I had in me. _No_, I told myself. _She was wrong_. Everything she was suggesting was completely wrong.

"You've forgotten that _Lover Boy_ is supposed to be with her," Clove went on. "_Not_ you."

"_Shut. Up_," I said dangerously.

She scoffed. "Its pathetic to think she'd ever want you back-"

I slammed her harder against the ground, and the dagger began to draw a feeble line of blood against my neck.

"I have worked years for this moment," I said slowly and full of venom. "You really think… I would waist it all for one girl? Are you _sane_? You really think I give a crap what happens to her?"

Clove somehow pushed me off of her, and she staggered a few steps back, but not much. I could still see the infuriatingly cruel tone in her dark eyes. "You wouldn't kill her if I told you to."

My own temper made me nod in response. "I will kill her," I spoke. "After I'm done with her. You can rely on that." The words seemed to tumble out of my mouth. I didn't even care, though. I was so damn angry- I felt like I was saying gibberish, letting out whatever the hell came to my mind. Anything that helped me crush her accusation.

Clove crossed her small arms and examined me, waiting for a slip up. I felt the steam rolling off my figure. "Alright tough guy," she decided. "I'll tell you what. You come back to the Cornucopia with me and rejoin our alliance, both Marvel and I drop our suspicions. You'll prove she really is of no concern to you."

I frowned. "Fine."

"I'm not done," she said. "And tomorrow, you come with us to hunt them down. I'm still going to be the one to kill her, remember? You promised. And you can be the one to kill the little girl."

I let out the breath I was holding in and glared down at her. "Why don't you just kill them now?"

"While they're asleep?" Clove shook her head disapprovingly, and started across the clearing. "Like that's any entertainment. No, I think I'll wait until later, when they realize you've betrayed them, and when you help me get rid of them."

She had already disappeared into the trees by the time all that crap sunk in. I stepped after her, but my foot felt like pure lead, weighing me down and chaining me to where I stood.

_This was really happening_, I told myself. I was leaving them. I was going back with the Careers.

_No_.

I shook my head furiously. What was I bitching about? They were going to die at some point, I always knew. Every single person in this damn arena would have to die for me to win. I knew that. I _always_ knew that.

Without thinking, my head turned the other way, back into the other direction of the forest.

"What's wrong, new Lover Boy?" Clove's voice made my insides tighten. "Getting second thoughts?"

"No," I said, frowning deeply. "I left my backpack with them."

Clove rolled her eyes. "You won't need it. We've got enough stuff at the Cornucopia. You'll be fine."

My eyes remained on the trees. Somewhere on the opposite side, a few miles out, two tribute girls slept vulnerably. One, a child of twelve lied with a smile on her face, holding her companion for warmth while tumbles of dark, curly hair fell in her face. Sleep was her only happy escape from reality. The other, a girl of sixteen, slept beside her. Brunette hair was braided and framed around her face, her eyebrows loosened in slumber.

A few feet away sat a packed backpack full of tribute supplies, while the spot against the tree trunk remained vacant. A place I would never encounter with the two of them again.

Clove had already started walking. The sound of her body bristling against the bushes was what made me snap out of it.

I sighed heavily, and looked down at the head of Marvel's spear. I didn't need this stupid thing anymore. I needed to be rid of it before it weighed me down with its cruel memories.

The weapon slipped from my grasp silently, and buried itself into the thick grass. It would never be found again.

With one final look into the opposite side of the forest, I fixed my jacket more firmly over my shoulders, and headed after Clove.

My alliance with those weak little districts was over.

I had more important things to worry about, now.

* * *

><p>"He's from District 3," Clove explained when I asked about that little wimp they were with the other day. "We found him a little after the tracker jacker thing. <em>I<em> was full on prepared to kill him where he stood, but Marvel stopped me when the kid said he could rebuild the mines for us around our supplies. I didn't believe it, but Marvel thought it would be cool, so we ended up keeping him."

"Has he actually done it?" I asked.

She nodded. "He's working on it, yeah."

"I guess his theory isn't entirely out of our favor," I murmured, but still frowned. "After he's finished with it, we're getting rid of him, though."

"You can even have the honors if you want," Clove said. "But keep him a couple extra days. He can guard our supplies for us while we're out hunting."

I growled under my breath. "Fine."

Marvel gave me hell when we reached the Cornucopia. I suppose I should have expected it, since he ended up with no pants the last time we met. But it was still worth the laugh, and it looked like he found some black sweats in one of the backpacks, anyway.

"Hey," I said when I had walked into the mouth. "Look who's covered up."

"Fuck you," he said back.

I held up my palms. "I can take that."

He got over it after a while.

District 3 spent the remainder of the afternoon digging random roles next to the tribute pedestals, while the three of us hung out in the shade, eating random food and supplying more weapons in our clothes. Marvel took a brief nap when the sunlight began to dim, and Clove began practicing her aim on an animal she found in the woods. I stood at the mouth with my arms crossed, gazing into the wilderness.

_By now, Katniss and Rue would have woken and realized I had left them,_ the thought reminded me. _They would know I betrayed them_.

It irritated me how nagging that thought was.

I leaned against the side, my frown deepening. What were they doing, now? Did Katniss take my backpack? Were they looking for me?

No, they weren't looking for me. Katniss was probably telling Rue what an ass I was for randomly leaving them. She was probably berating herself for thinking a career could ever change and pair with a district like her. She probably thought I was an ignorant, cheating, lying, _bastard_…

I closed my eyes.

_I had been so close_.

"What's wrong with him?" I heard Marvel ask in a hushed whisper, thinking I was asleep or something. "I haven't ever seen him _this_ distant."

"He's just within himself, is all," Clove snapped back.

"Now_ that_ is a lie," Marvel sneered. "He obviously just misses her."

Clove scoffed. "Oh, _please_. You don't know Cato at all, then."

"Enlighten me."

"Cato's been working for this moment his whole life," Clove said, almost loud enough for me to hear. "Even longer than I have. You really think he'd blow it all off for one girl? A girl like _her_? No, Cato cares more about his reputation than anyone else. His family would never allow it. I think he'd rather impale himself with his own sword."

"Well, that still doesn't explain why he's sitting there, sulking like a pansy."

"He's not sulking for the reason you think, idiot. I even questioned him about it, earlier. He's always been the same. He's never going to change. The only thing he loves and will ever love is the victor's crown, if he ever gets it."

Fucking Clove, knowing perfectly well I was awake and listening to everything she was saying. I squeezed my eyes closed, and thought of a billion different ways to torture her before I killed her.

"Yeah, he's probably just disappointed he won't be able to shag her before he kills her," Marvel muttered in an amused tone. "I've had that feeling before."

"Please," Clove scoffed again. "Cato would be as filthy as her if he touched her."

I stood up then, unable to stand anymore of their crap. Marvel drew back, surprised I had been awake, while Clove barely even acknowledged me. I glared murderously at her. "Piss the fuck off," I muttered, before I stomped out of the Cornucopia to check District 3's progress.

* * *

><p>The mines were finished in the morning.<p>

Marvel, Clove and I all began strapping our knives and swords to our belts as we prepared for the grand hunt. They two made some bitter small talk while I decided to stay out of it and choose my weapons in silence. The District 3 boy stood outside, and waited for orders.

"You watch the supplies until we get back," I spoke. The boy nodded nervously, and seated himself outside with one of Marvel's spears.

Clove made me lead the way back to my camp with Katniss and Rue the other night. It was the first place they thought to look, since they couldn't have gotten far if they ended up moving. I tried to find familiarity in the bushes and trees as best I could, because deep down, I did want to know where they were. I wanted to know if they were foolish enough to stay behind, or move on. I needed to know before the curiosity and dread began to eat at me more than it already had.

I managed to locate the stream we had stopped at before, and followed the trail up until I found the abandoned campsite. This was definitely the place. I recognized the weird knot in the tree I had slept on for a couple hours. There was a large dent where Clove's knife had been. A few ashes from the campfire lay scattered across. It was definitely the place.

Katniss and Rue had moved on.

They had covered their tracks and taken my backpack. They knew I would come back for them.

"Well, this was it," I sighed, placing one of my hands against the tree. "The recent one, anyway. A few nights ago, we were all here."

Marvel knelt to the floor and tried to detect any footprints. Clove searched the trees and behind some of the bushes for any other signs. I didn't even bother. Part of me was too relieved to even try to find anything.

"They must have covered everything," Marvel stood, shaking the dirt off his pants. "Otherwise, I would've known which way they went."

"We'll keep looking," Clove urged. "Which way should we search, Cato?"

I glared to her. "How the hell should I know?"

"You knew them best," she quirked a lethal eyebrow. "Which way would they have gone after this?"

I sighed, and looked every direction possible. I decided to take a route further up the stream, using the excuse that they would most likely be near a source of water. Clove and Marvel agreed, and they followed willingly, keeping their eyes peeled for any sort of movement.

Nothing occurred.

The sky began to drift into the later afternoon, by which point, Marvel and Clove were cranky and tired of looking.

I frowned to myself. Why wouldn't the Gamemakers be chasing them towards us by now? Didn't they want to see the showdown between us, all the drama after my betrayal? Were those idiot Gamemakers deciding to be totally uncreative?

Something wasn't right.

"I want some water," Marvel whined. "Lets go back, and continue looking tonight with the night glasses. I got a pair of them in one of the backpacks."

"We better damn well find them," Clove eyed me.

I ignored her, and began heading back the way we came, further into the woods. I continued cutting any annoying plants that were in my way and kept a steady pace at which Marvel and Clove could easily keep up. I decided at the end of the day, if no one was killed, I was getting rid of that damned technology kid early. All this drama was fogging up my mind. I needed to see some blood before I exploded.

"Who's left?" I spoke up, when the vast clearing with the Cornucopia was visible up ahead. Marvel had no idea what I was talking about. "The tributes," I said impatiently. "Besides us and them, who's left?"

There was a brief pause. "Uh… that guy from 11 is still somewhere," Marvel thought. "And I haven't seen Lover Boy's picture yet."

"The girl from five," Clove added. "The kid from three."

I nodded to myself. Katniss was going to be my finale. She was the only one out of everyone left that posed a true threat to me.

I could see it now.

Both of us out for blood, weapons furiously slashing for the other, red dripping through our fingertips. I could see her betrayed, silver eyes, ringing with shock as I advanced and trapped her as I had done all those times before, stealing one vague kiss as I drove the blade into her fragile gut, and _twisted_-

An explosion went off up ahead.

It was ear splitting, and the three of us stumbled back in shock. More went off, and smoke spilled through the trees in a violent hunt, bristles of ash polluting the atmosphere.

_The Cornucopia._

I shot one bewildered look at Clove before the three of us took off sprinting towards the clearing.

* * *

><p>It was an ugly sight.<p>

Ash was everywhere. Smoke and sparks tumbled off dented boxes, while shattered earth bits rained the air, the ground still vibrating from the impact. It took all my strength to steady myself for what I had just seen. A smoldering, fiery wreckage stood in the place of the proud pyramid. Everything had become remains.

The District 3 boy stood on the opposite side with Marvel's spear, trembling so hard that one could see it from the other side of the field.

_That fucking kid got all our supplies blown up._

My temper flaring, I quickly advanced on the boy. "_What_ the hell happened?"

He blanched and stepped back. "I don't know- I was watching, and-"

I automatically ripped the weapon out of his palms and threw it behind me. Oh, that kid was _so_ dying. If I had any patience at all, I would've broken every toe and every finger before I killed him, just to show what a pathetic weakling he was for destroying all our damn supplies!

The kid started babbling up an excuse, but I didn't want to hear it. In raging blood, I reached out and twisted his feeble neck once to the side, and let his body drop lightly and painlessly. I glared down at his limp figure. Damn kid was lucky for such an easy death.

A slight motion of movement was what made my eyes snap back up.

Right into the bewildered eyes of Katniss.

She was on the ground, her knees rolled up to her chest, one hand clutching the silver bow. The anger once consuming my muscles began to loosen, and I stared back at her, blankly. I should've known all along that she would be behind this. She'd want to get back at me for leaving, and what better way than to get rid of everything I had left. Clove and Marvel were saying something, but I couldn't hear. Instead, my lips started forming her name, as she stumbled backwards and weakly hurried back into the trees.

"I don't see anything left," Clove called from the ruins, poking around for anything useful. "It's all crap, now."

"What are you looking at?" Marvel demanded when he saw me continuously staring into the plants Katniss had disappeared in.

My mind was fuzzy, but I managed to point in that direction with my sword. "I saw her," my eyebrows narrowed. "Katniss. I saw her, she went through there."

"What?" Clove shrieked.

Marvel's eyebrows rose. "Wait, are you sure she went that way? That's where I have all my traps set up. I have like five out there."

I frowned. "You made traps?"

"Hold on, stay here," Marvel grabbed the spear he had fastened behind his shoulder, and took off running. "If she falls into one of my traps, I want to be ready."

"Marvel- don't you dare kill her!" Clove screamed after him. "She's mine!"

Marvel continued running, and disappeared into the wilderness. I made a start after him, but Clove's icy hand grabbed my arm. "You don't need to go after him, Cato," she said simply. "What are the chances he's even going to find her? We're all going tonight, anyway… Thank God, the glasses were in my backpack instead of the pyramid…" She began going through her backpack.

I kept my gaze on the trees for three long seconds before I realized I really didn't give a crap what she said. "I'm just going to check something," I said as I strapped my sword to my belt and started after him, my arms pumping. Clove shouted after me, but I ignored her and tried to find signs of where Marvel had fled.

_Don't lose him_, my mind told me sternly. _Don't you dare lose him._

Marvel was gone. He was nowhere in sight.

Breathing heavily, I stopped my frantic chase and searched the area. He couldn't have gone that far, the idiot wasn't even all that fast. Grunting, I started off again, deeper and deeper into the words, passing one of Marvel's so called traps along the way. I shook my head to myself, and frowned. Like anyone would be so stupid as to fall for that stupid, rope knotted trap.

Just as I was continuing on, a bone-chilling scream cut through the air.

I froze on the spot. A child's scream. Distant, but easily heard. Rue's scream. It had to be Rue.

"Katniss!" she cried loudly. "_Katniss_!"

The name wasn't mine, but I took off running anyway in the direction of it. It was probably the direction Marvel was heading too, if he wasn't there already.

"_Katniss, help_!" she desperately pleaded.

My skin sparked with ice, my blood running cold from the chilling sound. What the hell happened to her? Her scream resembled my sister's a little _too_ closely. It made me run all the more faster.

"_Katniss_!"

The voice wasn't far off. I leapt over plants and punched branches out of my way, desperately trying to push my way to Rue before anybody else could. It had to be a mutation after her. That was the only explanation for why that little agricultural genius would ever scream at the top of her lungs in the arena.

I was too late, though.

When I approached the small field of green cloves and rocks, Katniss was already kneeling in front of her, a broken net resting next to them. But in that next instant, Katniss had already released her arrow, and ledged it right into the chest of Marvel.

* * *

><p>I stopped where I was, and took a few steps behind a tree to take it all in.<p>

What the hell just happened?

Marvel instantly fell to his knees, and stumbled backwards, red pooling from the wound. He made an uncomfortable noise in the back of his throat, and went completely still, the last bit of life draining from the tall, lanky idiot from District 1.

Rue collapsed into Katniss's arms.

I instantly stepped out, my expression flaring with confusion. What happened? What was wrong with her?

My questions were immediately answered when I saw the bloodied spear tip lying on the ground a few yards away, a dark red spot near her stomach leaking through her shirt.

Oh, _fuck_… I thought to myself. Marvel had speared her. Deeply.

My sweaty hand gripped the sword handle tightly, my knuckles going white.

_That son of a bitch._

Katniss let out a series of whimpering chokes as Rue blankly stared up at her, her head resting on Katniss's lap. "It's okay," she struggled to say. "You're okay… _you're okay_… _you're_…"

It tore at my chest to hear her sound so helpless. I knew what she was doing. I had heard it so many times when a kid from my camp broke his leg on one of the mountain runs. The bone was popping clear out of his flesh, yet people still tried to convince him everything was good and happy, that everything was going to okay when it clearly wasn't…

My stomach only tightened more when I got another look at Rue's wound.

It was too deep. Too bloody.

She wasn't going to survive it.

Katniss stroked her hair, and Rue continued her helpless stare up at her companion. "Did you blow up the food?" she asked, barely audibly.

Katniss smiled weakly, and nodded. "Every bit of it."

Rue's lips came together and formed a small smile. "Good…" she murmured. She said something else that was too soft for me to hear, but it made Katniss tremble and glance briefly back at Marvel's body.

"Can you sing?"

Her voice was so weak. She didn't have much longer.

Katniss blindly nodded.

"Okay."

I moved out fully from behind the tree, and took a couple steps forward, waiting for Katniss to look up and meet my gaze. She never did. It was only Rue, whose eyes drifted from the sound of the twigs snapping to my figure. Large, brown eyes. Innocent eyes.

"_Deep in the meadow… under the willow…"_

I took another step forward, letting the sword fall from my grasp. Still, Katniss didn't look at me.

"_A bed of grass… A soft green pillow…_"

Rue's eyes rung with emotion. Communication through our eyes was all we had, since she was too weak to speak again.

"_Lay down your head… And close your eyes…_"

I stepped forward again. Rue's eyes didn't move.

"_And when you wake…"_ Katniss struggled, sniffling. "_The sun will… r-rise…"_

And then she was gone.

That little girl, who placed chewed up leaves on my stings and told me I wasn't as bad as I appeared to be, followed Marvel into death. Swifter than a breath, delicate as ever. The seconds after her death were agonizingly silent.

And it only got worse.

I watched Katniss's face crumple. I watched tears escape from her eyes as she repeatedly apologized to Rue's limp form, stroking dark curls that would never grow. I watched her_ cry_. I watched her break and snap in half.

All right in front of me.

_Stop, _I pleaded in my mind. _Please stop._

She wasn't supposed to break like this. She wasn't supposed to break this way, when I was unprepared. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to feel.

I took my final step forward, only a couple yards away from the two of them. Still, she refused to look at me. She didn't even flinch when I purposely stepped on a loud, crackling twig in front of her.

That was what bothered me the most. Why wouldn't she look at me?

"Katniss," I spoke, loudly so she'd have to hear. "You know I had nothing to do with her death. You know I never would've harmed her."

It felt weird saying something so opposite of my eternal mindset. Could I really have never hurt Rue if she was the last thing standing in my way to the victor's crown? _No_, I told myself. What I was saying didn't matter. I just needed to see her meet my eyes before I exploded.

I continued to be ignored.

Katniss kissed Rue's forehead and walked past me towards the river. I turned and watched her pluck white and violet plants from the bank, and return with them silently, decorating Rue's body with the tiny flowers. She placed the remainder of them under Rue's fingers.

She was going to leave me without saying anything, I realized. She wasn't going to acknowledge or face me. My fists clenched at the thought. I was _never_ ignored. She had to face me. I wouldn't let her go until she did.

Katniss strapped the arrows over her shoulder and began walking the opposite direction, stopping only once to flash the cameras a respect sign I hadn't seen in years. I would've been surprised she'd do such a thing on live T.V if I weren't raging angry about being ignored.

I took several steps after her. "Don't give me that crap, Katniss," I said spitefully. "Believe what you want, but I _was_ your ally for a couple of days, and hers as well. You are not going to give me the cold shoulder, you are _not_-"

I literally had to throw myself to the left to avoid her arrow.

I rolled onto my stomach and looked up at her in bewilderment, meeting her eyes for the first time since she saw me kill the kid from District 3.

They were flaring silver through her tears.

Katniss almost always had a perfect shot. She didn't send me that arrow for a warning. She sent it to kill me.

I knew the difference. And if I hadn't been training for years, learning how to predict another's shots, I would've been shot dead cold, just like Marvel.

I made no move to get back up. Instead, I watched her turn back around and continue further on, not sparing a backwards glance or anything. I watched her braid bounce with her strides, and saw the gleam of her arrows when a ray of sunlight caught her figure. Eventually, she had ventured so far that she disappeared from my sight, leaving me lying on the ground next to Rue's body.

I stood up then, and dusted off, grabbing the sword I had dropped a few yards away. My last look was back in Katniss's direction before I found my feet and started the opposite way.

_We would be separated_, my mind accepted.

_Just for now._

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the choppiness of this chapter guys :( It was strangely difficult, but I wanted to get it to you on the day I turned 17 ;) I am going to estimate that there's about five chapters left, and then the end will come :(<strong>

**Please review guys ^^ I love it when you do!**


	10. Chapter 10

**And... THE STORY STILL HAS A PULSE! Hey guys- I apologize for abandoning this for so long, but I'm back in it and I'm going to finish it if it's the last thing I do! **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

* * *

><p>The anthem blared.<p>

From above, a giant portrait of Marvel's stupid grin filled the sky for the last time. Following him, the gentle face of Rue appeared and disappeared in almost the same second.

Silence reigned.

The arena seemed so much quieter when no one was around. In all the time since the games started, there had always been someone nearby. Granted, most of them were idiots that I couldn't wait to get rid of- but I had allies never the less.

Everyone was gone now. The only person left was Clove.

After I almost took an arrow to the skull earlier, I made no rush to return back to the Cornucopia. I already knew who would be there and what she would ask. There was no point listening to her bitching and complaining if I didn't feel like putting up with it in the first place.

So then I walked. I walked for hours, wanting to put as much distance between the Cornucopia and me as possible. I would go back later, when I wanted to. Now, I only felt the prickly impulse to scratch my way out of all the things I had just witnessed.

Everything had backfired. Everything had gone wrong in the course of six hours.

And it was entirely Clove's fault.

If she hadn't had showed up that night, none of this would have happened. Rue would've been alive and well. My plans would've been functioning. I even had Katniss in my fingertips, _and_ her trust.

_I had been so unbelievably close_.

And that was the thought that irritated me most of all. The task was nearly complete. If I had been given more time- perhaps even another day, our outcomes would have been much different. We would've hunted Marvel and Clove down at the Cornucopia and gotten rid of them completely. Rue would've been alive, and she'd be safe.

But then what?

How much longer did I really think I could continue this game?

Eventually, they would have to die. I knew that the moment I volunteered in the mountains. Hell, I even knew it when they were my allies. I always knew that they had to die for me to win.

And I didn't even have to be the one to kill them.

Perhaps it was better this way. There was no chance I could have the kid's blood on my hands and I didn't have to worry about how to dispose of her. As innocent and gentle as she was, everyone knew she stood no chance in a place like this.

But even so, the very thought of how gruesome her death gave me an uncomfortable feeling. I couldn't tell if was anger or flat out repulsion. It was probably both.

When I decided to head back, an orange light flickered from the mouth of the Cornucopia. I trudged across the clearing of ruins with a sight frown. I didn't think I'd ever see Clove do something for her survival that didn't involve her knives. She would rather zip up her jacket and grit it out the rest of the night instead of get her hands dirty.

She was sitting next to the fire with her legs crossed. She glanced up at me coldly, but didn't say a word. I ignored her and dropped my sword on the floor.

By now she would have learned the outcomes of what had happened that afternoon. She would know Katniss survived the attack. She would know Marvel's plan had backfired and got him killed. She probably thought both of us had died since I took such a long time returning.

I reached for my sleeping bag and cushioned it under my left ear, facing away from her.

The fire crackled.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, I heard her speak.

"I thought you ran off with her."

I scoffed at that. So it hadn't been my death she considered. It had been something completely different- something_ worse_ in her mind.

I decided not to say anything back. There was nothing to discuss that wasn't already obvious.

The last thing I heard was Clove's unanswered question crackling from the flames before I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>When I woke, both Clove and the fire were gone. The dry musk of smoke was still prominent, but all that remained was ashes.<p>

I sat up and stretched my arms. It was still dark out, but dawn was approaching. Somewhere within the trees, the stirring of the mutations were audible. The wind was still.

Eventually, a shadow fell over me. Clove leaned against the side of the mouth, chugging down the water from her flask. When she finished, she flicked the cap in place and looked down at me.

"So Marvel's gone. I'm guessing that little bitch got to him before I could."

I ignored her by cracking my back,_ loudly_. She waited for an explanation and crossed her arms. Her narrowed, beady eyes told me that I wasn't going to get out of this without some sort of word.

Instead of responding, I grabbed my own backpack and began gathering leftover knives and food remnants within the Cornucopia. I began stuffing them in the smaller pockets where they were more easily accessible. Clove watched me, suspiciously.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

I fingered through the rest of my food supply in my biggest pocket. Once I had finished, I zipped up the pockets and threw the strap over my shoulder.

"I'm going after her at daybreak," I announced.

Clove didn't move, just like I expected. It was probably the shock of it, the sheer ridiculousness of my statement alone that put her bitching in play. "_Why_?" she finally muttered, scathingly.

I looked up at her. "You know why."

"_No_, I don't," she took a menacing step forward. It was strange having her taller than me for once- glaring down at _me _with a mad gleam in her eye. It was almost frightening. "You said- no, _promised_ me, that she was _my_ kill. You can't go off without me! _No_. I don't care how much you want to avenge Marvel, you _can't_-"

"I never said I was going to kill her."

Clove paused, while I watched both the realization and suspicion churn through her dark eyes. I remained relaxed, and rolled my jacket sleeves to my elbows.

I stood up. "This is what's going to go down, from here on out. I'm going to find her, and then-"

"_You'll what_?" Clove spat, seething with anger. "Sweep her off her feet and ride into the sunset? _Huh_? Is that what you think? _No_. No way _in hell_ are you coming back here with her. I won't allow it."

"She'll make a good ally," I backfired. "Especially when we track down the guy from 11."

"Does it look like I give a fuck?" Clove nearly screamed. "_No_! No. Cato- _we don't need her_. We don't need that scum from that poor district!"

I let my backpack drop roughly back on the ground. "_Don't_ start with that crap," I told her menacingly. "You know as good as I do that those excuses died long ago."

"_God_- what does it matter?" she said, exasperatedly. "Cato- we don't need any more allies! There are only four others out there- why the _hell_-"

"She'll be useful is she's on our side," I argued. "We'll have one less threat to worry about. I don't understand why you're bitching and complaining about it."

Clove was shaking, she was so angry. Eventually, after I strapped my sword onto my belt and headed out to fill my flask, I heard her call from the Cornucopia, trembling.

"She won't want you, you know."

I froze on the spot.

Then, I slowly turned around to look at her.

"Yeah, that's right," her fists were in tiny balls, her feet apart. "After what you did- she'll never want you again. You think no one knows what you're really doing- what you're _really_ after? Cato- you poor, sorry ass, _suck up_. Your pride cannot blind me."

She knew it was coming. The sword dropped so fast that it only had time to hit the ground before I had her throat in my grasp, her tiny neck warm with heated anger. Her nails sunk into my fingers, but she didn't let up on her expression. She looked me square in the eye.

"We're back to this, yeah?" she hissed. "Thinking you can just torture those who tell a truth too painful for your soft, little ears?"

"She'll want me," I said low and venomously. "_She always has_."

She smiled horribly. "No. Not anymore."

"Yes, _she will_," I squeezed tighter, but Clove just adjusted.

She let out a throaty laugh. "What, are you trying to wriggle a lie out of me? What do you want me to say? You want me to take it back?"

"I want you to _rot in the ground_."

She laughed again. "_That's_ the best you can do?" she challenged. "Wow. I expected better. But fine- _kill me_. Do what you want. It'll only prove my point all the more. At least_ I_ wouldn't settle for Lover Boy's leftovers."

The hand wrapped around her neck had become so strict that she actually began to choke. She didn't look afraid- but her face was blooming red. As she coughed and sunk her nails further into my flesh, I smiled darkly.

"This would be too easy of a death for you," I muttered. "Too boring. Which is a shame, because I do feel the impulse to smother the living existence out of you." I finally released her, letting her knees fall to the floor. "_No_. I think I'll let the girl on fire end you. You can die the way Marvel died."

Clove rubbed her neck, glaring up at me spitefully. "And how did he die?"

I shook my head, hooking my sword back into my belt. I grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulder for the second time, heading straight into the heart of the forest.

"I guess you'll find out."

* * *

><p>For the first time in a long time- I didn't have a game plan.<p>

I usually always did. It was something we were all taught in training, to always strategize and think things through before making a decision. Reckless wandering only got people killed. The most lethal people were the intelligent ones, the ones that had a strategy figured out.

I had done a lot of the decision making in the arena. I kept the morons from District 1 alive much longer than they were supposed to be, and I had thought most of the ideas through. I strategized what I was going to do with Katniss almost every hour since I entered the games.

But not anymore. Now- I was wandering again, carrying only questions on my back.

She was furious with me. She wanted to kill me. How in the world was I supposed to approach her again without an arrow penetrating my back?

And even if she had cooled down, where would I begin to search for her? As much as I wanted to parry any argument against me not really knowing her- I didn't know where she would go. I never paid attention to the routes she seemed to favor. I didn't even know her well enough to know whether she would still be fuming angry with me.

I really didn't know.

All I knew was that some part of me wanted her back. I needed her to know that Rue's death wasn't on me. I needed her to trust me again.

It was just something I had to do.

I shoved the hanging plants out of my way and slashed any that caught my ankles. I supposed keeping an eye out for a bundle in the trees near the river was a start. Where would she go after the death of a friend? Would she go into hiding- or would she forgo any camouflage for confrontation?

It appeared I would see in time.

The sun rose to its peak. My movements trudging through the heavy dirt and over logs were beginning to pattern. The trees were unmoving and vacant- but every now and then I would catch a figure in the branches, just from the corner of my eye. But whenever I'd whip my head around to look at it more closely, nothing would remain.

Although my vision began to deceive me, my hearing was sharp. I heard every twig I stepped on and every little rustle from a nearby mutation. Other than that, the forest was dead. If anyone were around, I would have at least heard them breathe. No one could remain so unearthly silent.

The sun began its descent- and still, there was no sign of anyone.

I sighed, wiping an arm across my sweaty brow. I knew it would difficult to track her down, but I wasn't making_ any_ progress whatsoever. I couldn't find_ one_ tribute. From what it seemed, Clove and I were the only two breathing tributes in the whole damned arena.

_Katniss_.

Where could she be?

Eventually, I came upon the mad, rushing sound of water. This river was greater than any of the others I'd encountered- not the little creeks snaking around the arena. This was the mother river, with a decent sized clearing and plenty of chalk-white boulders.

I stopped when I approached the last layer of plant. This was a good spot for anyone to see another tribute and plan an attack, just like the clearing surrounding the Cornucopia. It was a good spot for Katniss, especially.

Did I dare risk my life putting myself in her grid of action? Would I be impaled the moment she saw me?

_Hardly likely anyone was there_, I decided. As much as there was a possibility of Katniss hiding out nearby, there was also a bigger possibility of her not being there entirely.

With that thought, I stepped out onto the boulder.

Nothing happened.

I approached the bank of the river with cautious steps. Very slowly, I reached into my backpack to grab my flask.

Still nothing.

I popped the cap open and lowered the metal into the water.

Nothing.

No one was there.

Sighing, I lifted my flask and screwed the cap back into place. I had to admit it was both relieving and disappointing she wasn't nearby. I would prefer to approach her in the forest with the safety of tree trunks and leaves- but at the same time, it meant I'd have to head over to another part of the arena to locate her.

_Damned girl_.

I walked upstream for a bit to see where it curved off. At one point, a few pebbles scattered from the direction of a boulder and a pile of mud, but I decided it was nothing after studying it for a solid minute. It was probably just another mutation getting some water.

The sky began to fade. Evening was approaching, and I wasn't in any condition to continue further without sleep. An afternoon of wasted energy was disappointing enough as it was.

I found a spot off the river that was a reasonable place to camp. Down a fairly steep drop, shrubs and vines surrounded a body length hole embedded in the hill. I tied my backpack to one of the vines and shifted myself inside, feeling the cold moisture of the earth surrounding me. This would have to do.

And then tomorrow, I would find her.

* * *

><p>The water slithered around the soles of my boots as I made my way up the creek. It was a shallow waterway, with a variety of dead branches and multicolor stones. I kept my eyes cast downwards to peruse the water for signs of fish.<p>

I hadn't learned much hunting in training, but I did have experience from my father. He could take down a thousand pound elk with a switchblade and nothing else. I hadn't seen any elk come across my path the whole time I had been in the arena, but I figured the method for fish wasn't much different.

While I had my sword poised for attack above the creek, a swift whipping sound cut through the air like a knife.

An arrow clattered against the stones.

I could see the animal that the arrow had been intended for. It was a furry brown thing that quickly scurried off into the plants once it realized it was being targeted.

I looked up.

My breath hitched.

_There she was_.

She was standing much farther up ahead, unable to see me. Her feet were planted on the rocks while her stance was proud, her hair falling in a gentle braid over her right shoulder. The silver ring of her bow flared in the sunlight.

I couldn't believe I had found her.

What should I do?

Katniss lowered her bow and reluctantly pulled out another arrow. The animal was long gone, but she wasn't going to let it go. With a graceful step, she landed in the creek and began making her way across it for a better search.

I stepped forward.

She stopped where she was.

Then, she looked right at me.

I knew my presence startled her since she stilled immediately. She regarded me with careful eyes, _alarming_ eyes- unsure of what to make of my sudden appearance.

I began to walk towards her. The crunching of water under my boots sounded prominently throughout, cutting through the tranquil hum of the forest. I kept my eyes trained on her, and made sure to lower my sword.

After a few steps, she suddenly jerked out of her statue-like character and poised her weapon directly for my head.

I stopped in my tracks.

She hadn't released it yet, so that had to have meant something. She wasn't as angry with me as she was before, otherwise she would've released the arrow without a second thought. But even still, there was a danger in her stance- and she knew she had every reason to kill me on the spot.

No solution came to mind. Instead, my body took over and I slowly resumed my walk forward.

She still didn't release the arrow, but I felt the growing danger in every step I took. Every second that passed, she debated ending my life.

I began to approach her.

Now I could see the details of her face. Her eyes were the same as when I last saw her, blazing silver through a coat of tears. She despised my existence. She hated every part of me and there was nothing I could do or say to change her mind.

I had pushed her too far. I could see it in her face. Now- she was going to kill me.

I stopped for the last time, right in front of her.

Her hands trembled on the weapon, but it was still poised for my face. I gazed down at her, through the lines of the bow and past the arrow. I gazed right into her heart and she let me, driving me a look that expressed every thought of hate and betrayal that had coursed through her. Now I understood the hopelessness of my goal. Now I understood what I had to do.

Slowly, I released the sword handle from my fingertips.

It hit the rocks below me with a sharp_ clang_.

She briefly glanced down at my abandoned weapon. She seemed slightly shocked, but she wouldn't release the hate and anger coursing through her features.

My knees hit the ground. I felt the cold sting of the water soak through my pants.

She immediately took a step backwards at my sudden movement, but lowered her arrow so it was still aimed for my forehead. Her eyes were ringing down at me with disbelief, incredibility-

I closed my eyes and leaned my head forward, so I felt the jagged point of her arrow rest against my brow.

"It's you," I told her. "You are my death."

The arrow trembled against my flesh. I didn't open my eyes again. I only waited for the pain- once she finally decided to put an arrow through my skull and end my misery.

* * *

><p>I jerked awake so abruptly I almost went tumbling down the hill.<p>

My fingers sunk into the earth to steady myself. I breathed heavily, my eyes wide with shock.

My backpack was still tied to the vine. I was still ledged in the space hanging from the hill's slope. There was dirt on my arms and jacket.

My fingers automatically found my forehead.

No arrow mark.

It was a dream.

_It was a dream_.

Relief flooded through me in waves.

It wasn't real. I wasn't dead.

_I wasn't dead._

Sweat ran down the side of my face. I immediately extricated myself from the hole and sat up, breathing in the cold, brisk wind. I hadn't dreamt so vividly in years, not since I was a child. Even now, I could feel the wet stains on my knees and the prod of Katniss's arrow. It was as real as ever. It was as if it really happened.

_I was going to let her kill me_.

I swallowed, hard. I had let go of the sword when my life was at risk. I didn't fight back. I didn't even try. And that wasn't even the worst part.

_I had _wanted_ her to kill me._

My heart stopped, making the world around me quiet. Then, sheer anger replaced my confusion.

What the hell was I doing? As useful as she was to me- was I really going to permit her to kill me so easily? That wasn't the way it was supposed to be. I was supposed to win._ I_ was the victor.

_How dare she try and take it_.

My fist clamped down hard on my sword, until I drew blood. The arena was mine. The game was mine. Every tribute and every mutation that got in my way was mine.

_She_ was mine. I was not hers.

I wanted her to suffer for making me dream such things. It was absolute ludicrous. There was no way in hell I was letting such a thing happen. I was going to survive until the end- even if it meant tracking her down to the ends of earth to wretch open her insides. I wanted to watch her bleed before me and die.

A flame burned within. I had never felt such bloodlust in my life.

The quest for her heart was a futile and idiotic task. This wasn't how I was raised and this wasn't what I was going to keep pretending my goal was. In the end- it shouldn't have mattered who was behind Rue's death.

Let her believe I was part of it. Let her _fear me_.

I stood up then, gazing into the black sky.

The girl on fire _had to die_. She was the lone reason everything had gone wrong. She had ruined everything. Everything I had trained for, everything I had prepared myself for. _She had to die. She had to die_.

I wouldn't let her have my mind anymore. She could steal Lover Boy's or Marvel's or the whole damn Capitol's for all I cared. I wouldn't let her control me. _No_. I was not to be made a fool of any longer. She could not have me.

_I would not let her_.

I looked down at my last weapon- the sword that had been hooked onto my belt since Day 1.

And then I laughed. I had never been so happy to see it. I had never dreamt about someone's blood along the shining edges so vividly. I could hardly wait. I could hardly wait to feel the relief of completely detaching her from my person.

She would _not_ be my death.

I would be hers- and it would mean everything. It would be so extravagant that the Capitol would forever remember me for it.

Snow's task was long gone.

Now- I had a brand new one, something I made myself.

_Kill the target._

Suddenly, Claudius's voice filled the arena. "Attention, tributes. Attention. The regulations requiring a single victor have been suspended. From now on, two victors may be crowned, if both originate from the same district. This will be the only announcement."

* * *

><p>It was logic, not the rule change that sent me back to the Cornucopia.<p>

The last person I wanted to team up with again was Clove, but I didn't have many options anymore. If I was going to take Katniss down, I needed someone to have my back. And if it involved her death, it wouldn't be hard to garner Clove's support.

When I finally stumbled back to the clearing, the horn was completely abandoned. Frowning, I revolved around the structure to make sure she wasn't camping around it, but nothing remained.

I sighed, crossing my arms.

She probably knew better than to stick around if I claimed I was bringing Katniss back to kill her. It was a pretty wise move.

But where would Clove go?

I took only a few steps back into the forest before I found her- or she found me. A swirling dagger flew right between my face and the tree I was about to pass. I automatically turned to see her sitting against a tree amongst her pile of crap.

She had another knife ready in case Katniss appeared, but when she realized I was alone, she lowered it.

I approached her and dropped my sword on the shrub. I gave her a wicked smile.

"She's all yours."

Clove smiled back.

I sat opposite of her and began looking for something to eat in my backpack. As long as I kept feeding her the lie that I was surrendering the girl on fire to her, there would be nothing keeping her from aiding me. But when our confrontation finally occurred, there would be a change of plan- all petty promises aside.

When I found her, I would kill her in my own way, and _no one_ would interfere.

* * *

><p><strong>I apologize for the lack of action in this chapter, but the next one will be full of it! Please leave your thoughts and comments ^^ Review!<strong>


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